A quick side dish: Mashed cauliflower

We should all be eating more super healthy cauliflower and this is an easy fix: Mashed cauliflower rivals mashed potatoes in both taste and texture, but it's much quicker to make.

There are far too few recipes in my arsenal that really let the cauliflower shine. I sometimes make a tasty late summer salad with cauliflower, or I puree it into a soup, and I've come up with an oven-baked rice and cauliflower dish – but that's about it.

I recently discovered vegan sour cream by Swiss brand Soyananda: it's served me well as a dip, in cooking and in baking. (Most Berlin shops have a poor selection of vegan products, at least in comparison to Finland, where I once again was really impressed as we visited this summer. You can quite commonly find at least two different brands of veggie sour cream in a regular super market there.)

My discovery brought back a recipe I had almost forgotten about, mashed cauliflower. I've already made it like four times this autumn, and I'm planning on at least a few more times before the season is over.

Easy mashed cauliflower

(Serves 2-3, depends on the size of the cauliflower)
1 large head of cauliflower
2-3 tbsp vegan sour cream
Salt, pepper

Prepare your cauliflower: rinse it well, break or cut off the leaves – but keep them – and slice off the dry, yellow surface of the stem. Cut the cauliflower in half by first cutting the stem in two, then breaking it apart by hand – this way the florets stay whole and you don't get crumbs. Break off the florets and place them in a big pot. Slice the stem and the leaves into small sticks – leave out the leafy greens if you want the mash to be creamy white in colour.

Fill the pot water but leave some florets to sit above the surface, where they will steam, for a quicker boil. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, until tender but not yet quite soft. Drain the cauliflower.

Use a stick blender to mash the cauliflower in the pot. When it's smooth, add sour cream and salt and pepper to taste and mix well before serving.

On the photo cauliflower mash is served with fried yellow beetroots, green beans and Taifun's smoked sesame-almond tofu.