Indian Spiced Dirty Rice with Roasted Cauliflower
Modern traditional dirty rice flavored with Indian spices.
Indian Spiced Dirty Rice with Roasted Cauliflower
Serves 4 - 6
Recently, I made Chetna Markan’s recipe for Cumin rice (you can find her video here). It was absolutely delicious as an accompaniment to our meal. While enjoying it, I thought, what would happen if I were to combine Indian flavors with Cajun-style Dirty Rice? I have no idea why I connected the two but this is what resulted. Flavorful spiced rice with tender chunks of ground beef that I served with spiced roasted vegetables to make the meal complete.
This is a simple meal that comes together in under an hour. I served this with Yuja Cheong Slaw (recipe here) to add a fresh brightness as an accompaniment.
Ingredients
Beef
570g (1.25 lb) ground beef
4 t soy sauce
4 t mirin
2 t maesil
0.75 t gochugaru
0.50 t ground black pepper
0.50 t kosher salt
Cauliflower
1 T vegetable oil
1.5 t kosher salt
1 t ground cumin
1 t garam masala
0.50 t gochugaru
0.50 t ground black pepper
0.50 t ground turmeric
0.50 t fennel seeds, ground
0.25 t 5 spice powder
1,135g (2.5 lbs) cauliflower, cut into large florets
2.5 T olive oil
Flavor base
2 T vegetable oil
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
4 t cumin seeds
300g (1 large) onion, small dice
235g (1 large) red or green bell pepper, small dice
100g (1 stalk) celery, minced
15g (1 T) ginger, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cheongyang or serrano chili, sliced - optional
1.5 T gochujang
Rice Spice
1.25 t kosher salt
1.5 t garam masala
0.75 t garlic powder
0.75 t onion powder
0.50 t ground black pepper
0.50 t ground coriander
0.25 t ground ginger
0.25 t ground allspice
0.25 t ground nutmeg
0.25 t ground cardamom
0.25 t 5 spice powder
0.25 t ground clove
Finishing
1.5 T mirin
700ml (3.5 c) water
3 T tsuyu or 2 T soy sauce
400g (2 c) basmati rice, rinsed and drained well
Recipe Know-how
Beef
1. In a medium bowl, add the beef and its seasonings.
Mix well and leave to sit until needed..
Cauliflower
2. Preheat an oven to 190 C / 375 F.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
Add the vegetable oil and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, combine the salt and spices mixing well.
In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower with the olive oil.
Add the spices and toss, mixing well while gently massaging the spice mix into the vegetable.
Carefully remove the pan from the oven and tilt to coat with the oil.
Use extreme caution as the pan and oil are very hot.
Pour the vegetables onto the pan and roast for 35 – 40 minutes or until well browned and tender.
Continue on with the rice while the vetetables roast.
Rice
4. In a large pot, heat the flavor base oil over high heat.
Add the beef.
Cook for 7 – 10 minutes stirring occasionally until well browned.
Remove the beef to a bowl, leaving the fat in the pan.
Add the flavor base spices and cook for 45 seconds stirring frequently.
Reduce the heat to medium-high.
Add the vegetables and cook 7 – 10 minutes or until wilted and lightly colored.
Add the rice spice mix and cook for 1 minute.
Add the gochujang and cook 1 minute longer.
Increase the heat to high.
Add the mirin and cook 30 seconds while scraping the fond from the pan.
Add the water and tsuyu stirring and scraping any remaining fond from the bottom of the pan.
Add the rice and beef.
Bring to a boil uncovered. Boil for 2 minutes.
Give a thorough stir. Cover.
Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
Check the vegetables and flip if necessary.
If they are browning to quickly, reduce the oven temperature for 180 C / 350 F.
Turn off the heat and fluff the rice with a fork.
Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.
Cover and allow to stand off the heat for 5 minutes.
5. Serve with the vegetables and yuja cheong slaw.