Last week I wrote about spring cleaning your home with some DIY cleaners. This week I’ll share one of my internal spring cleaning recipes. Greek yoghurt is a delicious way to incorporate probiotics into your diet. If you want to know more about how to maximize the benefits of eating probiotics, check out this blog post.
As this blog’s title suggests, yes, this recipe incorporates one of the trendier ingredients of the last couple years, cauliflower rice. What’s the deal?
Known as the ‘glitter of food prep’ (as in, it gets everywhere), it may seem like the last thing you want to prep. So why eat it? If you’re gluten intolerant, I find it works really well instead of cous cous when making tabbouleh. It’s pretty neutral in flavour so it can be subbed for grains in popular grain-based salad recipes. Not only that, but cauliflower is also part of the cruciferous vegetable family and has a ton of antioxidants. Finally, it’s low carb.
How do you rice cauliflower? Some people grate it, some people chop it small, but if you have a food processor with a grater attachment, this is my preferred method because it really keeps it from making it a messy annoying meal prep situation. Not only that, but I then switch out the grater attachment for the blade and use the food processor to chop the parsley, another task-heavy thing that may prevent one from making delicious delicious tabbouleh.
My pet peeve in the grain-free recipe blogger world is when people use riced vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, sweet potato, etc. prepared in a similar way to cauliflower rice) as a base for curries and stews. I find that it doesn’t work the same way as rice does. Rice has a particular kind of density and absorbability that is the perfect base for absorbing sauces. My approach to revamping recipes to be lower carb (or when I’ve run out of rice) is to cut the vegetables I put in the dishes bigger and eat, say, a Thai green curry, like a stew. I take a normal recipe and double or triple the vegetables in the recipe and then I find I don’t miss the rice.
This recipe, however, slightly sautés the cauliflower and immediately tosses it in a dressing. When eaten cold, it’s had time to absorb all those flavours and is incredibly delicious. I paired it with a probiotic and calcium rich tahini greek yoghurt recipe. It makes this dish even more refreshing!
This is a really great recipe to make on a Sunday and then pack for the rest of your week to take to work! No need to reheat it so it’s also great for warm weather. Don’t want to make it? Hire me to! It’s on my Spring menu. Check it out here.
Cauliflower Rice Tabbouleh
Serves 6, Paleo & Keto without chickpeas
1 small cauliflower, approx. 750g
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 tbsp olive oil, divided
salt and pepper to taste
½ bunch green onions, tipped and cut into 2” pieces
1 bunch parsley, thicker stems removed
4 tbsp lemon juice (approximately 2 lemons, juiced)
1 tbsp dried mint leaves
200 g cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2 19oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed (optional)
500g cooked chopped chicken (optional)
Toppings
½ cup pickled turnips
4 tbsp roasted almonds, chopped
½ cup black olives, optional
Tahini Yoghurt Sauce (see recipe)
Tahini Yoghurt Sauce
1 cup greek yoghurt (I prefer full fat, 9%
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
In a food processor, insert a grater attachment with the widest grater hole. Feed slices of cauliflower through the feed tube and grate the cauliflower, making sure to turn off the machine before feeding more cauliflower through.
Heat a wide saucepan with high sides on medium high heat.
Add 2 tbsp olive oil to pan, sautee garlic for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add cauliflower and season with salt and pepper. Sautee cauliflower until slightly cooked, about 5 minutes. Transfer into a large bowl.
Replace the grater attachment in the food processor with a blade. Place green onions and parsley in and pulse until finely chopped. You may need to scrape the sides of the food processor down with a rubber spatula to make sure all of the herbs are chopped evenly. Place into a medium sized bowl.
Add remaining 4 tbsp olive oil into the herbs along with the lemon juice, dried mint and cherry tomatoes. Stir together and pour over cooked cauliflower. Add in chickpeas and chicken if using. Taste for seasoning. Top with additional toppings above and serve with Tahini Yoghurt Sauce.
