Ok, so apparently substituting vegetables for pasta is a thing now. No complaints here, vegetables are my favourite thing to eat and I’m all for giving a healthy twist to conventional recipes, so this trend is one I’m happy to participate in.
We’ve already made spaghetti out of courgette, and today I’m going to show you how to make couscous out of cauliflower.
Cauliflower couscous or cauliflower rice is super easy to make, and much quicker than making zoodles. All you need is a big knife and a food processor and you’re good to go! I decided to incorporate my cauliflower couscous into a quick and simple middle-eastern dish (my favourite), so let me share the recipe with you.
Ingredients
1/2 cauliflower
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
handful of raisins
White (feta) cheese
Fresh mint
Ras el hanout
Salt, pepper & oil
This amount will serve 2
Start by removing the leaves off your cauliflower and cutting it into quarters. You’re going to want to remove the hard stem part that’s in the center, so that you’re left with the small rosettes. Cut these into smaller pieces, and throw them into your food processor. I used a blender to make my couscous and you can totally get away with that, just cut the rosettes into smaller pieces. Pulse your processor or blender until the cauliflower turns into a couscous-like consistency. Take the couscous out. I processed the stem as well, it takes a little longer to get to couscous consistency so you’ll want to process that separately, but it works so you won’t have to waste the stem parts.
Heat up a little oil on a pan on medium heat, and cook the cauliflower couscous for about 5 minutes. Add a handful of raisins and a good dash of ras el hanout spices to add flavour.
In the meantime, dice your onion and garlic. Heat up a little oil in a pot and sautée the onion and garlic. Add the peeled tomatoes and chickpeas, season with salt and pepper and allow to simmer until everything softens.
When the cauliflower couscous is done, mix in some chopped fresh mint leaves. Add the tomato & chickpeas, and sprinkle the entire dish with some white cheese. Leave the cheese out for a vegan option.
Guys, this tastes AMAZING! As with the zoodles, go into this expecting a pasta flavour and you’ll be disappointed, but as a stand-alone dish it’s absolutely great. It’s light but still fills you up, and cauliflower has quite a mild flavour so you can use it in pretty much any dish. I’m putting this one in with my go-to recipes. Definitely give this a go some time, big thumbs up for cauliflower couscous!
