Curried Coconut Quinoa and Greens with Roasted Cauliflower
Quinoa cooked in coconut milk with spicy Indian flavors, mixed with greens and topped with roasted cauliflower. A simple, vegan and gluten-free meal.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 22, 2024
Afternoon forecast: too many decisions up in the air. I stayed up to an ungodly hour last night trying to plan out what I need for my new [rent] house and where to put everything. I don’t know why I didn’t drag my blinky-eyed self to bed earlier, as my subconscious sorted some things out while I was asleep. Isn’t that how it always goes?
So today, in addition to sucking down two mugs of strong coffee and stumbling across a promising oatmeal cookie recipe, I’ve made some executive decisions. I’m feeling good about my pendant lamp choice for the dining area and can’t wait to hang this big print on the living room wall.
I’ve also been searching Craigslist for a used washer/dryer set (is buying used a bad idea?). Speaking of Craigslist, I feel compelled to tell you about an app I found called Craigslist Pro. For two bucks, you can save searches and get notified when there are new results! Major time saver.
Maybe I should publish a post about all of my favorite tech tools soon. Would that be helpful? I could also post some before and after pics of my new space. Any takers?
I’m sorry, my mind is all over the place. Please be patient with me over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be going nuts trying to pack and unpack and get organized in my new place. At least I have lots of quinoa leftovers for sustenance. This dish is a new favorite. Although it definitely doesn’t qualify as authentic Indian food, the Indian flavors of turmeric, curry powder and coconut milk complement quinoa nicely. Dinner’s ready!
Curried Coconut Quinoa and Greens with Roasted Cauliflower
Quinoa cooked in coconut milk with spicy Indian flavors, mixed with greens and topped with roasted cauliflower. A simple, vegan and gluten-free meal.
Ingredients
Roasted Cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Sea salt
Curried coconut quinoa with greens
- 2 teaspoons melted coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon curry powder of choice (optional)
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 can (14 ounces) light coconut milk
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed well in a fine mesh colander
- ⅓ cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 cups baby arugula or chopped chard, spinach, maybe even kale*
- Optional garnishes: 2 green onions, chopped, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Roast the cauliflower: Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss the cauliflower florets with coconut oil, cayenne pepper and a light sprinkle of sea salt. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes on the middle rack, turning halfway, until the cauliflower is tender and golden on the edges.
- Cook the quinoa: In a large pot with a lid, warm the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it is turning translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, turmeric, curry powder and cardamom and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the coconut milk, water, rinsed quinoa and raisins. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat and let it rest, covered, for 5 minutes.
- Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the salt, vinegar and greens (if you intend to eat this dish as leftovers, I recommend storing leafy greens separate from the quinoa, as the greens don’t reheat well). Divide the quinoa into bowls and top with roasted cauliflower. Garnish with green onions and red pepper flakes if you’d like.
Notes
- Loosely inspired by the sweet potato wrap at The Mixx in Kansas City, which also inspired this quick roasted Brussels sprouts dish. If you like curried cauliflower with coconut, try this soup.
- *Greens: I’m pretty sure chopped spinach or chard would work great in this recipe. If you’d like to try kale, remove the ribs first. To soften the chopped kale, you might want to sauté it in a little coconut oil or massage it first, like you would for a raw kale salad.
- For added protein, mix in some cooked chickpeas or pre-steamed lentils. For what it’s worth, though, I find this dish to be very filling as is.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I made this tonight, and it was so delicious that I’m pretty sure I saw tears in my husband’s eyes when he took his first bite. This recipe will be a personal favorite for many years to come — thank you!
BTW, I highly recommend using coconut oil rather than olive. It just makes everything that much richer in flavor.
You’re welcome! Thank you, Julia!
Can you use rice instead of quinoa? Just started it and realized I don’t have enough for 1 cup quinoa!!:(
Rice could work too, although I haven’t tried it. Let me know what you think! Sorry I didn’t get to this when you were making it. How did it turn out?
This recipe is GREAT! I like to add roasted red bell peppers and serve it with some crispy tofu cutlets too.
Really good for having guests over!
Thank you! I’m happy to hear this was a hit for you, Sarah.
This recipe is soooo tasty! It was easy to make. It had the right amount of spiciness. We have been making so many recipes from your blog. All of them have been wonderful! We’re just sticking to your recipes from now on!! Thanks!!
Thank you,Jen!
I’m a vegan who doesn’t particularly care for quinoa. This recipe made it quite tasty, and I ate a whole serving of it…. and actually enjoyed it! My daughter and husband LOVED it. I will be adding it to my monthly rotation. Thank you for sharing it. I plan on trying many of your other recipes as well.
I’m glad this one made you enjoy quinoa! Thanks so much for your review.
This is a fantastic, flavour-filled and so delicious meal. Very easy to make. Only one of our family of 6 is vegetarian, and everyone loved it! The leftovers were yummy too.
Thank you for sharing, Jan!
We love love this recipe. It’s such a delicious, simple weeknight meal. The only adjustment I make is to the salt– the amount called for is super salty (and I LOVE salt), and halving the amount is perfect.
Thank you for sharing, Caitlin!
Hi Kate!
I came upon your recipe last night when looking for a gluten-free/vegetarian meal for my partner. It was DELICIOUS. I made a few substitutions: I added roasted eggplant along with the cauliflower and used rainbow chard. It was rich, wonderfully spiced and very hearty. I will be making it again. And I’m thrilled to have found your site!
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks for sharing, Theresa.
Kate,
I am so thankful that you have so many delicious vegetarian/vegan friendly recipes on your site. I am yet to be disappointed by anything I try here and this one is no exception. There are so many other sites filled with recipes that are uninspired and lacking in flavor, you are doing awesome work!
I’m happy you are enjoying my recipes, Mike! Thanks so much for your review.
This looks even prettier with purple cauliflower!
I’ve had trouble with the quinoa burning on the bottom — do I need to stir it more frequently?
Hmm… you might need to turn your heat down some and when you stir, make sure you are getting to the bottom. I hope this helps!
This is a great farmers market recipe! I made it for lunch today after picking up cauliflower and Swiss chard at the market, and it was delicious. Fairly quick, too, if you’re organized. My husband praised the interesting flavors, and I had to point out that it was vegan for him to notice. I will take the leftovers for lunch and am eager to see if it’s as good reheated. Thanks for the great dish!
You’re welcome, Eileen!
I made this last night and will be making it again. So easy and super delicious and filling.
I’m happy you loved it, Pam! Thanks for sharing.
Omg this is just delicious, I had red, black and white quinoa and used it in this recipe, I roasted some cashew nuts with the cauliflower, I omitted the raisins and a cup of chickpeas (I had just made a batch from dried so tossed some in)and used only 2/4 a can of the coconut milk and it was just delicious. I tossed my roasted cauliflower with the quinoa mix and now the left overs will be eaten cold for lunch at work this week, Cookie and Kate your receipts never disappoint… greetings from an Irish vegan in Ireland.
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks for sharing, Brenda.
Another amazing recipe Kate – cooked last night with spinach (yum) and just polished off the left overs for lunch… thank you!
Thank you, Chris!
Delicious! Next time I will not add any curry powder, to let the cardamom truly shine.
Happy holidays, Kate!
Really good! I don’t cook much, so it took a little bit of dexterity to manage all of the ingredients and add them at the right time. It wasn’t hard though. I’d add a little more raisins if you like a little sweet in every bite. I added kale at the end and that worked out great too. Great recipe!
A new favourite! Followed the recipe and wouldn’t change a thing. Will be making this often!
Sooo good! My whole family really enjoyed the recipe.
SO good! I used rainbow chard & highly recommend (chopped up the stems & cooked them along with the onions – the leaves held up really nicely as well).
If you live in a cold climate like I do, this dish truly has the power to help get you through winter!
Made this for my meat loving father-in-law. He gobbled it up. My husband said it’s the best cauli/broccoli (used a mix) he’s tasted.
I used pimento doce and South African Indian hot chilli mix masala on the veggies as I didn’t have cayenne.
Added some toasted flaked almonds as a garnish at the end and served some honeyed sweet potatoes to fill up the boys some more.
Definitely keeping this one for my next dinner party!
This recipe got me hooked on your blog (and I’ve now made it many times). That was probably over a year ago and I have since explored many (many!) other recipes. I don’t live in the US so sometimes I have to get creative with the ingredients but I have yet to be let down.
So thank you. This blog has been truly formative in developing my cooking style and has made it easy to cook without meat.
I love that! Thank you for your comment and review, Maya. I’m excited you come to the blog as a resource!
My husband likes extra protein, so made salmon. Plated it with the arugula on the bottom, topped with the salmon, then the quinoa and vegetables. I didn’t have much cauliflower, so roasted what I had with broccoli super yummy! A definite keeper! Thanks!
I made this for my family (who are avid meat-eaters) and they loved it. My brother, who thought that he hated quinoa, actually asked for a second serving. This dish was not too difficult to execute and it was one of the best quinoa dishes I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to make this again.
when you let the quinoa rest, do you keep it covered? love your site, by the way!
Hey Michelle! So glad to hear it, thank you! You’ll cover the pot while it rests. I’ll edit the recipe to be more clear.
Tried this recipe tonight – excellent! These are the days of lockdown, so I had to make a couple adjustments so that I wouldn’t have to leave the house. Didn’t have cauliflower, so substituted sauteed broccoli slaw (broccoli and carrot strips). Didn’t have raisins so used sliced dates. And full fat coconut milk was used.
I had to simmer the quinoa mixture an extra 5 minutes here in high altitude of Colorado.
Delicious! And easy!
Thanks Kate!
Delicious. About half-way through the cooking, I realized I didn’t have coconut milk. Yikes! So I put in yogurt and I also had unsweetened coconut flakes. Turned out fabulous. I believe the raisins and the apple cider vinegar added a great deal to the overall flavor.
Love your recipes and this is one of my favorites. Thank you for that!
Hi Kate,
I use your recipes all the time and love them! I have a family of 4 hungry vegetarians and you help me feed them. This one didn’t work for me though. There was too much liquid and the quinoa never fluffed. Should I have simmered it without the lid?
Hi Cheryl! I’m so sorry to hear that this recipe didn’t work out for you. I think your quinoa probably needed a few more minutes on the stove (perhaps my heat setting was a bit higher than yours). I published this recipe a long time ago and now that I’ve reviewing it again, I see that I need to offer a better time range with descriptors. I’ll try to revisit soon! I’m sorry for your troubles.
I only had full fat coconut milk so this recipe came out much richer than I would have liked. Great with the cauliflower though, might try roasting some carrots when I have the leftovers.
You’ve done it again Kate! And Cookie. This meal was delicious. We devoured it then immediately added it to the regular rotation list. I added canned chickpeas to the cauliflower halfway through baking since I’m breastfeeding and can use all the protein I can get. Also made a mint yogurt sauce to drizzle on top that mixed nicely.
I love this recipe! I have made it a lot over the past couple of years. Tonight I was craving it. Picked up the cauliflower and thought I had quinoa on hand. I did not, so I subbed tempeh and omitted the water. I also use Thai Kitchen red curry paste when I make it instead of the curry powder. It turned out pretty good, but the quinoa soaks up the flavors so well with this dish. Thank you for teaching me to cook quinoa into coconut curry! It’s the best ever.
This is delicious!! I didn’t have raisins so used dried cranberries and man, it was good. I also did the Kale option and just chopped it quite small and massaged olive oil/salt onto it.
I will absolutely be making this again.
This recipe is a staple in my household! I thought I didn’t like curry until I tried this dish and now we make curries all the time. It was my gateway curry haha. For some reason my quinoa never cooks in the right amount of time so I just leave it on the stovetop for a bit longer until it looks done. I’m eating it right now for lunch and figured I was long overdue for a comment. :D Thanks for the great recipe!
Gateway curry, that’s great! Thank you for sharing, Laura.
I loosely followed this recipe and added the cauliflower to the quinoa to make something like a curry stir-fry. I omitted coconut milk but used a bit of coconut oil for some fragrance. I didn’t have raisins, so to balance the curry I marinated some cucumber slices with apple cider vinegar. It was delicious!
Thank you for the recipe.
Dear Kate,
Thank you for this delicious recipe. My vegetarian daughter first made this dish for me. I am not a vegetarian but I love this recipe. I have made it several times and never get tired of it!! I use spinach for my greens.
This was really good. I ended up pureeing the cauliflower and greens bc I was going to eat it with my grandma who has trouble chewing, but after trying it I knew it wouldn’t be her cup of tea. It was fireeeee I had it with polenta on the side.
Delish! I used frozen kale and added it when I put in the quinoa.
Outstanding. I didnt add any greens but I did add some unsweetened coconut flakes sprinkled on top with some additional raisins. My husband really loved it!
SOOO GOOD!!
Thanks for sharing :)
SOOO GOOD!!
Thank you sharing! :)
Deliciosas! I live in Costa Rica and grow tumeric, ginger, and arugula. The dish is wonderful, so tasty with the fresh spices.
This is a wonderful recipe. Thanks so much for the great recipes you offer. I greatly appreciate your efforts:-) So delicious, tasty and healthy!
This is delicious, light and healthy. I will definitely make this again – quick and easy too and perfect for the lunch box. Yum!
This recipe is so unique and absolutely delicious! Such a nourishing and healthy vegan meal. The only thing I did differently the second time I made it was use more cauliflower as I felt there wasn’t enough the first time.
Thank you, Anna! I’m happy you were able to enjoy it.
I LOVE this recipe! Of course I made adjustments. I didn’t have fresh greens, so I took a can of collard greens, rinsed it to remove excess salt and seasonings, and then added it to the pot before bringing it to a boil in order to cook the multi- color quinoa. I also added the roasted cauliflower to the pot. Everything else was as written. The addition of the apple cider added a nice top note to the wonderfully layered spices. My new favorite!
Thank you for sharing, Marcy!
I mentioned how fantastic this recipe is while getting an eye exam; now my doctor and his staff want it! (Sending them the link to it.)
I really like this recipe, I make it again and again. This time, I used roasted Brussel sprouts instead of cauliflower : equally delicious!
Happy 2022, Kate, and thank you for making my life veggie-tasty!
You’re welcome, Nathalie!
Absolutely delicious. Great combination of flavours. My husband, who is from Southern India, loved it!
Hi Kate! My hubby and I just love your recipes and we love to try new ones all the time!! This one sounds soooo amazing and I picked up everything to make it for tonight only to find that the store was all out of coconut milk I saw someone else used almond milk, but do you have any suggestions?
Hi! I prefer this with coconut milk. If you try it, let me know!
This is delicious! I was trying to find a way to use stuff I had and came upon this. I was lazy, so I just threw it all in the rice cooker (and added some other left over veggies to it too) and it came out perfect! The kale cooked well in the rice cooker. And my 7 and 5 year old asked for seconds, which I did not see coming. This is a keeper for sure!
Thank you for sharing! I’m happy it worked for you with your approach, Kari.
I dare you to make a recipe we don’t totally love! This was so yummy, thank you for yet another fabulous recipe! Can’t wait for tomorrows lunch to have the leftovers.Thank you for making me look like a great cook.
I’m glad you loved it, Cheryl! Thank you for your review.