Just Another Meatless Monday -- Cauliflower with Lentils in Spiced Tomato Sauce

Today I had my usual smoothie for breakfast and chopped salad for dinner. For lunch, I had cauliflower with lentils in a spiced tomato sauce (which I'd made last week), with cucumber and tomato salaata, and plums for dessert.

I adapted the cauliflower and lentil recipe from Mostly Vegetables, a 1996 cookbook by Susan Costner that I've had for a long time. This dish has Indian flavors very similar to the dal I cooked last week.

Here's what I did:

1 head of cauliflower (about 3 pounds)
2 cups lentils
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
2 onions, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes in juice
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ras al hanout
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 jalapeno pepper, minced fine
chopped coriander leaves for garnish
lime wedges for garnish

I cut the head of cauliflower into small flowerets and roasted in a 350 F oven for about a half hour, checking after 20 minutes to make sure they did not burn. But I did want a little bit of browning to give extra flavor to the dish.

Meanwhile, I cooked the lentils (I used small, green French lentils) in plenty of water and 3/4 tsp turmeric. They were done after about 15 minutes. Again, I kept my eyes on them because lentils cook fast and I didn't want them to get mushy.

While the lentils and cauliflower were cooking, I cooked the onions in a little bit of water in a large pot, stirring constantly, until the water had evaporated and the onions were translucent. Towards the end of this process, I added the remainder of the turmeric (3/4 tsp), the garlic, coriander, ras al hanout, cumin seed, and jalapeno. When the water had evaporated, I added the can of tomatoes with their juice, and cooked this over medium-low heat until the cauliflower and lentils were done. I drained the lentils, then added the lentils and cauliflower to the tomato sauce and mixed everything together.

I've had this with and without the coriander and lime garnish, and I thought it was a lot tastier with the garnishes. Citrus adds a sparkle to a dish that is needed when you don't use salt. Also, when I make this again I would use 2 cans of diced tomatoes in juice, as the whole thing was a little dry (the lime juice helped that, too). This made a lot of leftovers; alternatively, I'd halve the recipe and cook the tomatoes in a saucepan and mix everything together in a bowl, rather than in a big pot.