Roast Butternut & Cauliflower With an Asian Inspired Sauce

How do you feel about cauliflower? Does the word bring back memories of creamy cauliflower cheese bakes at your granny’s house? Or maybe bland steamed cauliflower that you ate when you were trying to shake off 10 kg in 10 days? Haha.

Or maybe you were also on the Banting (Diet) Bandwagon that took South Africa by storm a few years ago? Banting gave the humble cauliflower cult veg status. Cauliflower became cauli steak, cauli pizza base, cauli rice & cauliflower wraps!

Lately, I’ve also been on a bit of a mission to try out new ways & recipes with cauliflower – roasting it in the oven, pureeing it with other vegetables & also chopping it up in a fresh salad. And that is how I came up with this simple, delicious vegetarian Butternut & Cauliflower side dish. I hope you will enjoy it!

Roast Butternut & Cauliflower with an Asian Inspired Sauce

This is an easy vegetarian lunch for about 2 people of a great side dish for four people. The sauce is where the magic comes in!

Ingredients:

1/2 Butternut, peeled, deseeded & cut into chunks

1 Head of cauliflower, rinsed & cut into bite-size florets

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

For the sauce:

60ml (4 tbsp) Soy sauce

60ml (4tbsp) of Honey

1 Clove of garlic, minced

1 Green chilli, finely chopped

1 Teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

2 Dates, chopped

30ml (2tbsp) Water

1/2 Teaspoon of flour

To serve:

Black sesame seeds & spring onions for serving

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Toss the butternut & cauliflower in olive oil. Season to taste with salt & black pepper & pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Prepare the sauce, while the veg is in the oven. Add all your sauce ingredients – except for the flour – to a mini saucepan over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Strain.

Add the juice of your sauce back into the saucepan. Add 1/2 teaspoon of flour & whisk to avoid lumps. Let the sauce reduce. Cover your veg with the sauce when it comes out of the oven. Sprinkle with sesame seeds & spring onion. Enjoy.