We really don’t mean to ‘toot our own horns’, but oh my golly this was good. Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable, who knew you could gain the buttery, fluffy and light texture of real couscous by just pulsing cauliflower with some moroccan spices?
We have definitely found a new staple dish for our mid week dinners
Cauliflower ‘couscous’ Ingredients:
Will serve two as a large main dish or three as a side dish with protein
– One head of cauliflower
– Half a cup of peas
– A bunch of baby asparagus
– One medium zucchini
– Half a small-medium eggplant
– 50 grams of haloumi (omit if wanting to keep vegan)
– 1 tablespoon of pepita seeds
– 1/4 cup of fresh homegrown thyme
– 1/4 cup of fresh homegrown basil
– 1/4 cup of fresh homegrown parsley
– 1/4 cup of fresh homegrown sage
– Half a clove of garlic
– 1 teaspoon of turmeric
– 1 teaspoon of cumin
– 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
– Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
– Pepper to taste
– Himalayan salt to taste
Green Hummus Ingredients
– 1 can of organic, salt reduced chickpeas
– Two cups of spinach leaves
– Handful of fresh basil leaves (optional)
– 1 clove of garlic
– 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil
– 1/3 cup of water (more or less depending on the consistency you’re after)
– A generous pinch of himalayan salt
– 1 teaspoon of turmeric
– 1 teaspoon of cumin
– Pepper
– Method for this hummus is really quite simple, place all ingredients into a food processor. Add more or less of the oil/water/spinach to achieve the consistency you want.
Method
1. Roughly chop the cauliflower head and pop it into a food processor. Pulse until you get a grain like consistency. Now put it aside for later
2. With your eggplant, thinly slice it and place under the grill with a tad of olive oil. Put the grill on a low heat and just keep your eye on it.
3. Finely slice your asparagus ‘julienne’ style (lengthways) and put in a bowl with the peas, all the herbs, your pepita seeds, some pepper and a couple of roughly shredded spinach leaves. Place aside for later.
4. Thinly chop your zucchini into quarterly pieces. In a saucepan, sauté your garlic in a tad of water and once brown, add the zucchini. Saute the zucchini till it tenderises slightly browns. Make sure your eggplant isn’t burning!
5. Now that all ingredients are basically ready to go, place the cauliflower in a wok and turn on a high heat. Add your spices and ‘stir fry’ your cauliflower until your kitchen starts to smell like Morocco. (…not that we’ve been to Morocco, but you get our drift)
6. As your cauliflower is coming along, cut your haloumi into squares and place on a pan. Cook till the edges brown. Turn the heat off on the grill – don’t forget about the eggplant.
7. Now for the assembling! In the bowl where you’ve placed the peas, herbs , spinach and asparagus – add the sautéed zucchini, grilled haloumi and spiced cauliflower. Mix with your hands so that the cauliflower covers all other ingredients. Separate the mixture into two or three bowls.
8. Top your bowls the spheres of thinly sliced and grilled eggplant. Arrange in a flower like pattern.
9. On top of the eggplant, add a generous tablespoon of the green hummus
10. Garnish with fresh parsley
11. EAT
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Although from the method it sounds like this recipe has a lot going on, with multiple pans on at once – it really is quite simple if you get the hang of swiftly manoeuvring around your kitchen. You may get a little frazzled, but cooking is supposed to be like that. Just give it a go and you’ll have heaps of fun in the process!
