cauliflower couscous

Cauliflower rice

Hi, guys! Somewhere hot days are already over, in other places heat is still on and summer doesn’t want to give up. It’s also unbearably hot in Dubai, but all shopping malls and cafes are air-conditioned here and that’s a true life-saver. Despite the hot days I prepare and eat a hot dish once a day, and today I want to share a simple recipe on how to make cauliflower rice — tasty and healthy alternative to regular rice.

Have you ever taste it? Don’t be skeptical and trust me — you will love it. It is delicious! Adding few ingredients to the plain and for someone tasteless cauliflower and you will get absolutely another vegetable — tasty and aromatic. Cauliflower rice is very easy to cook a low-carb dish, moreover, it’s rich in fiber and how popular to write nowadays — gluten, dairy-free, and vegan (of course if served without any poultry).

Cauliflower rice with fried turkey tenders

All you need — just blitz medium-size cauliflower florets in a food processor or cut with a knife or grate (in that case it’s more time-consuming) until chopped into tiny pieces. Then sauté with aromatic olive oil, season well and serve by itself as a quick lunch or dinner. For not vegan alternative add some fried turkey or chicken tenders. Enjoy!

I suggest preparing a good amount to enjoy this healthy meal for a few days. Cauliflower rice sometimes is also called couscous, click to check out my “cauliflower couscous with shrimps” recipe.

Cauliflower rice

Servings: 2-3
Difficulty: easy
Print

Tip1For extra crunch: add nuts — roasted almond flakes or silvered; or seeds — sunflower or pumpkin seeds.

Tip 2For non-vegan option: season turkey or chicken stripes/tenders with salt, pepper and mix dry herbs (Italian blend is good), drizzle with oil, leave to marinade, then pan-fry or grill and serve immediately with cauliflower rice.

What You’ll Need

1 medium cauliflower/400-500g

2 tbsp EV olive oil

1 large red onion

2 small capsicums, different colors preferably

1 medium tomato or 1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/3 tsp oregano

1/3 tsp marjoram

some fresh thyme leaves, or 1/3 tsp dry

1/3 lemon, juice

spring onion and/or parsley, chopped

freshly ground sea salt and white pepper to taste

How to Make It

Wash and roughly chop cauliflower. Using a food processor, blitz cauliflower florets into small/rice-size pieces, but not pureed.
Cut onion, capsicums, and tomato into small cubes.
In a large frying pan, heat oil and fry onions over medium heat until slightly golden. Add capsicums cubes and tomato or tomato paste along with sugar. Fry for 5 minutes more.
Add garlic and herbs and fry for 1 minute more.
You may skip this step and add cauliflower to the vegetables. At this stage, I prefer to transfer all fried vegetables to a bowl and put a side. Then I add cauliflower to the same pan with some more oil and saute it. Afterward, I return vegetables to the cauliflower rice and saute all together for extra few minutes.
Add cauliflower, stir a couple of times, cover with a lid for 5-6 minutes. Remove the lid, return back vegetables and continue to saute for 10 minutes more or until cauliflower rice just begins to brown.
When it’s ready – add lemon juice and season to taste. Sprinkle with fresh herbs.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower couscous with shrimps

When I saw a cauliflower couscous recipe for a first time in a food magazine I didn’t pay much attention to it and dismissed it, and made another pan of creamy cauli soup. 🙂 But when I stumbled upon similar recipes again and again, I decided to give it a chance.

I red few recipes to know how to make a cauliflower couscous: the main thing is to pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor to get tiny bits, which reminds couscous grains and then you can mix it up with any your favourite ingredients. Thus, I came up with my own recipe. Even thou, I topped cauli couscous with shrimps, you may omit it and keep totally vegetarian. Whatever you choose, this dish is full of flavour! It’s a good alternative for a regular couscous, and especially for people with gluten sensitivity. Such couscous pairs well with roasted chicken or barbecued meat as well.

And you know what, now it’s my fav way to prepare cauliflower! When I served it for a dinner my husband couldn’t guess what was that – whether pasta or couscous, but he liked it. Because it tasted divine: buttery and aromatic! 🙂

Cauliflower couscous with shrimps

Servings: 2
Time: 20mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

You can also try to add: chopped walnuts or pistachios, raisins, goji berries, chickpeas..

Ingredients

Cauli’couscous

cauliflower 400g

baby onion 5-7, sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped, optinal

olive oil 1 tbsp+ butter 1 tbsp, for frying

lemon juice 1 tbsp

sea salt, black&white pepper to taste

chopped mint 1 tbsp

chopped parsley 1 tbsp

olives 6-7, stoned

extra virgin olive oil, for dressing

roasted slivered or flaked almonds 2 tbsp

Shrimps

medium shrimps 10 (or more if shrimps are small), cleaned

lemon juice 2 tbsp

1/3-1/2 tsp chilli flakes, optional

1 tsp sweet paprika

freshly ground sea salt and white pepper to taste

olive oil 2 tbsp, for frying

Method

Mix up all ingredients for shrimps marinade. Put shrimps in a bowl, pour over marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in a fridge at least for 1 hour.
Wash and roughly cut cauliflower. Using a food processor, blitz cauliflower until breadcrumbs/couscous size.
In a frying pan, heat oil and butter. Add whole baby onions and fry over medium heat until golden. Add cauliflower and garlic if using, fry for 10-15 minutes or until cauliflower is ready. Add lemon juice and season to taste. Stir in chopped herbs and olives.
In a separate pan heat oil and fry shrimps for 2-3 minutes on each side over medium-high heat.
Arrange cauliflower couscous on a large serving plate. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with almonds. Top with shrimps.

Enjoy!