Maple Mustard Cauliflower Tacos with Avocado Basil Dressing

Cauliflower might be my favourite vegetable. It’s just so versatile: blend it into a sauce, crumble it to make ‘rice’, mash it into your potatoes and, my personal favourite, make it into cauliflower wings. I was craving roasted cauli, but wanted to do something different. Enter maple mustard cauliflower…

This may look like your standard roasted cauliflower, but in fact it is oozing with flavour. The combination of maple and mustard in the marinade tastes just as I remember the honey and mustard I used to smother over chicken before going vegan. Cauliflower this good deserves to be the star of the show, so tacos seemed like the obvious choice!

And of course, perfect cauliflower needs a perfect dressing. It has to be creamy to contrast with the crunch of the al dente cauliflower. It has to have flavour but not overpower that delicious maple mustard cauliflower. So I called upon my good friends avocado and basil. They did not let me down. This dressing comes together in mere minutes and compliments the cauliflower perfectly. These tacos are easy, healthy and, best of all, delicious!

Maple Mustard Cauliflower Tacos with Avocado Basil Dressing | serves 2-3

Ingredients:

For the maple mustard cauliflower:

• One cauliflower head, broken into florets
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup thick coconut yoghurt
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 0.5 tsp garlic powder
• 0.5 tsp onion powder
• 0.5 tsp salt

For the avocado basil dressing:

• One large avocado
• About 15g basil (a handful)
• Juice 1/2 lime
• 1/6 cup olive oil
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup water

To serve:

• Salad of choice
• Flatbreads or tortilla wraps
• Olive oil spray

PREHEAT OVEN TO 200 DEGREES CELSIUS

Method:

1. Combine all the maple mustard cauliflower ingredients (except the cauliflower itself) in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add the cauliflower florets and toss to coat, making sure every floret is well covered in the marinade. Leave to marinate for 15-30 minutes.
2. Spray a large baking tray with olive oil and arrange the marinated cauliflower florets on the tray. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the edges are golden and you can easily stick a fork through the florets. Ideally, you want to leave a little bit of crunch for texture, so don’t overcook!
3. To make the dressing, mix all the ingredients together and blend until fully combined.
4. Serve the cauliflower in the flatbreads or wraps along with salad of your choice (I used tomato, cucumber and red onion) and add a few dollops of the dressing.