Oven Baked Whole Stuffed Cauliflower

Oven Baked Whole Stuffed Cauliflower

I have at least four different versions of whole stuffed cauliflower !!! I have already shared my batter fried whole stuffed cauliflower . In case , anyone missed it , here’s the link https://khadizaskitchen.com/2013/11/29/whole-stuffed-cauliflower-roast-deep-fried-version/.
Today’s post is oven baked one where the cauliflower is covered with mashed potato and then baked and again broiled for last few minutes for the crusty outer shell . I bet , you are gonna love it . Many deep fry this mashed potato cover cauliflower too . But I’ve always found it very difficult to turn it over while frying , the potato tends to come out and most of all , it gets too oily and gets soggy after little while . So oven-baked is perfect when the outer shell is done by mashed potato.

Ingredients :

1 small cauliflower
1 heaped teaspoon of ginger
1 heaped teaspoon of garlic
Salt to taste

For the mashed potato:

4 large potatoes, boiled and mashed ( try to dry out all the water from the potato while boiling)
1 tbl spoon of butter
4 tbl spoon of fried onion / bereshta
Salt to taste
Crushed white or black pepper 1 teaspoon

Combine everything together .

For the stuffing:

You can take anything for the stuffing , be it chicken , beef, mutton even fish or seafood . I took beef here .

For the stuffing , if you are taking any ground meat or keema , then boil it with water , soy sauce , garlic-ginger paste and whole garam masala like cardamom, cinnamon and bayleaf . Dry out the water , now heat oil and add the keema , little salt (if needed), capsicum , lots of sliced onion and green chilies .

Other Ingredients :

1 beaten egg for egg wash
Some oil to rub over the potato shell before baking
Bread crumbs ( optional)

Procedure:

1. Cut the extra stems of the cauliflower . But don’t cut the main stem . Now boil it in water with ginger-garlic paste and salt .

2. In Bangladesh , the cauliflower florets seem to be separated with each other as it is .There is enough space to stuff the filling in but in USA I found the florets to be so dense , hardly get the space to put the filling easily . So I boiled it like 60% . If you are in Bangladesh , just half boil it .
Now try to stuff the filling inside ,to the spaces around the florets . Do it carefully , don’t break the florets .

3. Cover it with mashed potato . Keep it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour .

4. Pre -heat the oven to 380 FH or 190 centigrade. Apply some oil over the cauliflower , over the mashed potato shell . This would make the shell crusty . Brush with a beaten egg .  If you wish , you can apply bread crumbs after the egg wash and then again brush with little oil..Now bake the cauliflower for about 40-45 minutes . The baking time may vary oven to oven . Check after 30 minutes . Just when you find the potato shell dry and turned little brown , just set the oven to broil and broil for about 10-12 minutes for the golden brown crust .