Memorial Weekend marks the beginning of summer and I am ready! We don’t have any plans for the three-day weekend, except waking up at 6:00 a.m. to greet the early birds at our everything-must-go moving sale on Saturday – oh joy 🙂 Whether you’re just kicking back to enjoy an extra day off or rounding up the kids to initiate summer with a little beach time, backyard camping, or throwing the first pool party of the season; simple foods that require a minimum of time spent inside are in order. And, it’s the best time of year to eat the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, purple, blue, and green – take advantage of the season’s bounty of fresh fruits and veggies!
Finally, there’s a moniker for “eat more fruits and vegetables” that sounds appealing. To quote Eating Well, it’s easy to identify foods with the highest levels of antioxidants—they’re often the most colorful. Carrots and sweet potatoes have plenty of beta carotene; bell peppers, strawberries and tomatoes contain vitamin C; tomatoes and watermelon have lycopene; and dark leafy greens like spinach contain lutein. Blueberries have anthocyanins. Red grapes have resveratrol. And the list goes on!
But wait, is white a color? You might think it’s the absence of color (that’s black) – it’s actually the sum of all colors of the spectrum, so totally counts. White fruits and vegetables such as cauliflower are colored by pigments called “anthoxanthins” and also may contain health-promoting chemicals. Cauliflower is high in Vitamin C and Vitamin K (source: Whole Foods.org) Other white foods like bananas and potatoes are a good source of potassium, too.
Inspired by a recipe that I cut out of an Oprah magazine which they adapted from Skinny Dips, by Diane Morgan, today’s recipe is a chunky, chilled dip combining steamed cauliflower with warm Indian flavors that won’t have you in the kitchen very long. It’s satisfying and healthy, especially when served with the colors of the rainbow veggie dippers in lieu of crackers or chips. Like raita, tzatziki, and other sour cream and yogurt dips, it has a cool, lingering taste that’s so refreshing.
*Featured in HuffPost Taste’s “12 Amazing Dips for Football Season” on January 3, 2013!
- 2 cups of cauliflower florets about 1/2 of a head of cauliflower
- 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon avocado or canola oil
- 1 small sweet or yellow onion diced
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt*
- 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
- 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
- 1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
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Cut the cauliflower head in half, break into small florets to equal about 2 cups. Place in a microwave-safe container, add a tablespoon of water, cover and heat on high for approximately 3 - 4 minutes (depending on the power of your microwave) until fork tender, but not mushy. I like cauliflower to still have a bit of crunch, but you may like it softer. Drain the water and, using a fork or potato masher, coarsely mash the cauliflower.
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Heat a small sauté pan over medium heat, add the sesame seeds and toast for 1 minute. Remove the seeds with a spoon. Heat the avocado oil and sauté the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add curry and salt to the onions and cook for another minute, until fragrant.
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Add the sesame seeds and onion mixture to the mashed cauliflower. Remove and add to the cauliflower along with the yogurt, sour cream, honey, balsamic, cayenne, nutmeg, and cilantro. Mix well. Chill.
Serve with assorted crudités of your choice for a colorful and healthy appetizer, snack, or light lunch. Shown here served with sliced red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, blanched fresh green beans, and radishes.
* salt can be eliminated or reduced for very strict low sodium diets
Enjoy 🙂
What plans do you have to kick off summer?
Priscilla, this recipe is fantastic! Ingredient combination is put together wonderfully! Great photos too!
I love that you spiced up this dip with Indian flavors – can’t wait to make this for a BBQ or party! Hope your moving sale is a huge success!
Love Indian flavors, so this sounds amazing to me!
Good luck with your moving sale this weekend!
I’m still trying to go around my way with Indian flavors because my youngest doesn’t like spices. For the last months, I have tried some curried food and I love it. This is a new recipe that I can try. Seems delicious.
What a wonderfully unique dip – I just wish I had some right now to dip a chip into. These flavors sound amazing. Pinning now….. 🙂
Yummers! I could eat this bowl of curry cauliflower dip for dinner! Oh, I guess I could share;-)
this is a wonderful way to prepare cauliflower. although i haven’t tried it in a dip before, the “curry” really caught my eye (stomach). this is definitely worth a try!
Great recipe! I have some cauliflower in my fridge right now. I’ll give this a try this evening. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Beth! Let me know what you think if you give it a try.
I love it…part of the crudite dipping posse as the dip! Cauliflower is so underrated..I love when it’s the star of a dish, like your delicious looking dip. THIS, I have to try. Oh, and you better believe I’ll be baking, cooking and eating the rainbow this summer. My hope is that my blog goes psychedelic 😉
This would definitely be a crowd pleaser, Priscilla! Yum!
What a fantastic dip…you are going to have to make me some of this 🙂
You are so right about the best time of year to eat the colors of the rainbow! I love that saying too. Your dip looks good! I love cauliflower but never had the dip version – very great idea! There are so many ways to use cauliflowers. Good luck with the moving sale!
My bad, forgot to add link…
Great idea Priscilla at first glance I thought this was potato salad 😉 Plenty of great flavor in this dish.
That looks really delicious! Very flavorful and I love the addition of the sesame seeds in there… What a great way to use cauliflower! Thanks for sharing 🙂
What is so fun about the this recipe is the fact that I have never had cauliflower in a dip! I love all the flavors in the delicious treat, especially the yogurt and avacado! Looks gorgeous:-) Hugs, Terra
Wishing you a successful (and not so tiring) moving sale, Priscilla. After a busy day I know I’d inhale this dip–why have I never thought to use cauliflower this way before? Thanks for the inspiration!
This looks so good!!
I am such a cauliflower lover.. this will be a sure hit in my home!!
I am jealous of your moving sale – we too will soon be moving and downsizing and have so much to sell but those kind of street sales don’t really exist here. What to do? That said, great post and I should really keep in mind more often the nutritional kick of foods. We love cauliflower and this is a fabulous dip that I would actually serve as part of a lunch on the go with slices of baguette. Bookmarked the recipe!
Couldn’t agree more! I struggled to get my kiddos to eat healthy so I created a little game where they earn points for eating colors — and we’ve got points for white! They earn bonus points for trying new foods, and this week they are trying cauliflower. Can’t wait to give this tasty dip a try. Thanks for the inspiration!
My husband love anything with cauliflower and curry. He would really enjoy this dip. Looks delicious Priscilla.
Thanks for being a part of May’s YBR 🙂