Eat Your Vegetables: Cauliflower Fouscous Pilaf
A few months ago, I discovered Curry Fried F’Rice over on Paleo-Steve’s blog, and it drastically changed my relationship with cauliflower. Cauly and I went from casual acquaintances to intimate confidantes immediately. Then I made this Cauliflower Fouscous Pilaf (faux + couscous = Fouscous), and were are now lifetime BFFs. (If you need some rationale for why cauliflower should immediately become a staple in your diet, read this.)
Cauliflower FousCous Pilaf
Makes two servings of pilaf, with enough cauliflower left over for another meal
Ingredients:
1 large head of fresh cauliflower
1/4 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 a small onion or 1/4 large)
2 tablespoons pine (pignola) nuts
2 tablespoons raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped dried apricots
1 tablespoon olive oil, separated into two 1.5-teaspoon servings
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamonNote: I used pine nuts, but walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and pecans would all be very tasty. Mix it up and see what you like best!
1. Make the Fouscous.
Wash the cauliflower and break it into florets. Cut off the stem part. The stems can be chewy and unpleasant, and they don’t cooperate with the food processor. The processing of the cauliflower has to be done in batches to get the right consistency. Sorry! If you want deliciousness, you’re gonna have to do a little work.
Place a handful of florets in a food processor and PULSE until the cauliflower looks like couscous. (If you don’t know what I mean, look at this.) Dump that batch into a bowl and repeat until all of the florets have been reduced to cauliflower dust. Measure about 3 cups for now, and put the rest in the fridge for later.
2. Prep the cauliflower.
Place the 3 cups of cauliflower in a microwave-safe dish and nuke for 5-7 minutes. It should be pretty tender. Set aside. The annoying prep work is almost done.
3. Sautée the onions.
Heat 1.5 teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the onions and dried fruit, if you’re going that way. (And I recommend you do… like, plan your other fruit that day around this pilaf. For real. Or leave the fruit out if you must. I made this without the pine nuts and fruit in a pinch, and it was almost as good.)
Sautée the onions and nuts and fruit over medium-ish heat until the onions and nuts begin to brown. Be gentle and give them time. The natural sugars in the onions will carmelize into a deep, rich flavor.
4. Add the spices and cauliflower.
Mix the spices together in a little cup. To replace their fabulousness, they need to be in embraced by some fat, so here’s what you do: Push the onions to the side of the pan, and add the remaining 1.5 teaspoons of oil. Let it heat up a bit, then add the spices and stir stir stir everything together: onions, nuts, oil, spices, all co-mingling in happy harmony. When things get all fragrant, toss in the cauliflower and stir stir stir. Sprinkle the whole shebang with salt and pepper. Stir stir stir.
5. Eat! Oooh! Aaah!
Revel in your vegetable awesomeness. Maybe even feel slightly superior to people still making their pilaf with rice, bulgur, or couscous. (That’s just SO Bactrian).
I’ve eaten this alongside a grilled chicken breast, as a bed under grilled and sliced chicken thighs, nestled next to a somewhat sad turkey burger found in the back of the freezer and heated in a pan while I growled that I really didn’t buy enough protein at the store this time. Each meal was elevated by the Cauliflower Fouscous Pilaf. I hope you like it, too! (Next time I make it, I’m topping it with a pile of ground lamb sauteed with pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and parsley.)
*FREE BONUS RECIPE*
Here’s one for the leftovers. Make it salad-y.
Toss the leftover Fouscous with whole olives, chopped fresh parsley, chopped fresh chives or the green part of a few scallions, a chopped cucumber, a chopped tomato, and equal amounts of lemon juice and olive oil. Let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Eat. Enjoy!
*AND IF YOU ACT NOW*
Here’s another favorite cauliflower recipe that’s totally low-maintenance… Spiced Cauliflower.
Neato! This is my first time ever submitting to Food Renegade’s “Fight Back Friday.” I love that site – and I love the idea of Friday being PuNk RoCk food day!
Tags: cauliflower, dino-chow, Middle Eastern, paleo
31 Responses to “Eat Your Vegetables: Cauliflower Fouscous Pilaf”
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This looks super yummy. I have a question, though. If we don't have a food processor on hand, can we grate the cauliflower? Or put it in a blender? I'm desperate to try this ASAP!
Definitely the grater. I fear if you use a blender, you'll end up with cauliflower juice. THAT would be hard to sautee!
Yea! You have NO idea how much I needed this recipe! I've been eating a ton of cucumber-yogurt salad because my csa won't slow down the cuke delivery, and the garden is also pretty cuke heavy, so I've been making a bunch of middle east and India-inspired meats to go with, and thinking, man, I wish I could have a little couscous with this…(I'm a low carby diabetic). Hooray! Thanks
Ha! I had the same revelations about cauliflower about 6 months ago. I used to NEVER buy it and only eat it when it was served as part of a vegetable tray. Now I use it weekly.
Thanks for the recipe, and for joining in the Fight Back Friday fun!
Cheers,
~KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
Hey, B Kinch! Glad the Fouscous came along at the right time. Funny… I've been eating a ton of cucumbers lately, too… but I gave up dairy, and man! I miss the Greek yogurt. My cucumber salad is now lemon juice and olive oil. Still tasty, but not the same as Greek yumminess
Kristen, Food Renegade! Nice to see you over here. I just saw a new cauliflower recipe in this month's Gourmet; if it's as yummy as it looks, I'll share it!
I had no idea that cauliflower was packed with so much good-for-you stuff! I've never cooked with it before and am looking forward to making the fouscous tonight. I've already prepared the cauliflower… I have no food processor, so I started out grating it and then diced a bunch of it into the teeniest pieces possible. Hoping that'll work! I'll report back with feedback later.
Lemme know how you like it! That's a lotta cauliflower to manage by hand… kinda of a WOD, yes?!
Processing the cauliflower by hand is a pain, but the end results are 100% worth it. I loved the fouscous and will be making it again this weekend. I used dried raisins, cranberries, and apricots, plus almonds, walnuts, and pinenuts… SO delicious! It felt like an indulgent cheat meal without BEING an indulgent cheat meal, and you've gotta love that.
eating some of this as a snack (yay leftovers) and it was making me so happy i had to comment. this is probably my favourite thing to eat. even though i do have to process the cauliflower by hand!
Jenn, I don't know how you do that! It makes me a little nutty when I use the food processor! So tedious.
SO delicious! It felt like an indulgent cheat meal without BEING an indulgent cheat meal, and you've gotta love that.
Have you tried making this greek/italian style and what would you put in it. I liked it but I think my flavors tend towards mediterranean flavors.
Anonymous! This is a fun game… OK!
1st step: eliminate these ingredients:
pine nuts, dried fruit, cumin, cinnamon
Now… for Italian:
Instead of the fruit and nuts, add chopped fresh tomatoes or a few sundried tomatoes, slivers of fresh basil, and sliced black olives.
For Greek: Add chopped fresh tomatoes, fresh or dried oregano, black olives, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
If you try these, let me know how you like them!
For Italian:
I've always hated cauliflower and I hope these ideas help change my mind so I can incorporate a "new" veggie into my repertoir!
Cari –> I hope you like it! Let me know how it goes…
Melissa,
I tried making it greek style and it was delicious. But my favorite is your suggestion for left over cold salad. Have you thought about making it for breakfast like cream of wheat – maybe alittle almond milk with some almonds and raisins. I think I am going to try it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Chris
Hey, Chris! Glad the Greek version worked! I've never tried it as a hot "cereal" for breakfast because I'm never ever liked oatmeal or cream of wheat… but I bet it will work if you leave out the onions/garlic and instead of frying the cauliflower in olive oil, cook it in coconut milk with some nuts and dried fruit and cinnamon. If you try it, let us know!
I added some carrot and leek slices at the onion step. Very tasty.
Yummy!
I recently read an article about how Americans don’t use leeks as often as other cultures… and I vowed to start using them more. I have some in my fridge right now, in fact. Alongside a head of cauliflower… hhmmmm.
I don’t have a microwave, do you have a suggestion for how to best cook the cauliflower once it is ‘riced’?
You can skip the microwave step and go straight to a skillet. To get a good texture, you might want to increase the amount of fat in the pan to a tablespoon… then just saute the ‘rice’ until it’s to your desired tenderness.
Thank you so much for the suggestion. It turned out pretty good, but I barely tasted it as I was busy devouring the Rogan Josh.
Hooray! And I hear ya… rogan josh is ridiculous in its yumminess.
Thanks for sharing, even if did take me 2 years to find it! It’s an awesome recipe, even if it is a little time consuming. Seriously, my husband (who has been fighting me a little on the paleo/whole 30 front), my 2-year old, and our 180-lb great dane all loved it. That’s a winner in my book.
Just wondering, have you made the fouscous & then frozen it at the end of step 1 to use in the future? I would think it would probably work & then it would almost be like having couscous sitting in your pantry.
Anyhow, thanks again. It was delicious.
Glad you like it!
I’m not sure how well it would freeze — it might get too mushy OR it might work brilliantly. My advice: put a small amount in a ziplock bag, squeeze out all the air, then pop it in the freezer and see what happens. Let me know how it turns out!
I tried this tonight and WOW, it was amazing! I used pine nuts and sultanas because that is how I usually do my Moroccan couscous and it tasted just the same. Next time I’ll add in some slivered almonds and maybe dried apricots.
Great minds! My cookbook Well Fed has a new recipe for that includes almonds and apricots — plus some yummy spices. It’s SO pretty and delicious.
Happy New Year to you! So glad you liked the recipe… thanks for taking the time to let me know!
This recipe is awesome and I just wanted to let you know that it freezes wonderfully! I’m the only one in my house who will eat it so I make up a big batch and then put it into small individual size containers to be reheated in the microwave. I LOVE it!
[...] won’t be eating this tonight, though — tonight it’s duck with cauliflower pilaf and broccolini. If you follow the links you’ll see that we’re working our way through [...]
I am totally blown away with the diversity of cauliflowers. As I was making this recipe today, I was thinking “oh well, if I blow a head of cauliflower so be it”. But now I am a convert for this recipe. I probably will reduce the spices and add some garlic and then I think it will be perfect for my taste. Yum – you did good on this one gurl.
Got a Penzy’s order yesterday and your book today! This was amazing. Thank you! I also had it with Rogan Josh. Great combination. For a minute I thought, “I should probably have a veggie with this…oh yeah, this is veggie.” Could become my new favorite snack. Thanks again!
All hail Penzeys, right?! Glad you enjoyed it and wishing you many more cauliflower adventures.