Cauliflower & Pomegranate Tabbouleh
With mellow Middle Eastern spices, combined with fresh mint and parsley as well as sweet pomegranate seeds, this tabbouleh tastes incredible. It’s a winner for family gatherings, as well as day-to-day cooking, and you can eat it all year round.
A stunning tabbouleh salad switching traditional couscous for cauliflower, which is perfect for anyone who is following a gluten-free or grain-free diet. Also, ideal if you are trying to limit carbohydrates or simply increasing your vegetable intake. Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable that is helpful for balancing hormones, especially around the menopause.
A healthy twist on a classic Middle Eastern dish, this is literally one of my most favourite salads and works beautifully served with meats, poultry, fish, bean dishes and tofu. It lasts in the fridge for up to three days and makes a perfect lunch box filler for older kids, teens and adults who are looking for a change from sandwiches.
Cauliflower & Pomegranate Tabbouleh
Ingredients
Cauliflower Couscous
- 1 Cauliflower
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 3 tsp Baharat Spice (I use Barts)
- 2 tbsp Water
- 1 pinch Salt
Tabbouleh Mix
- 0.25 Cucumber (peeled, finely diced)
- 8 Baby Tomatoes (finely diced)
- 1 pinch Salt
- 4 Spring onions (peeled & topped/tailed)
- 25 g Parsley (fresh)
- 10 g Mint (fresh)
- 2 Lemons (juice of both, zest of one)
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 100 g Pomegranate Seeds
Instructions
- Place the finely-diced cucumber and tomato into a small bowl and sprinkle over a pinch of salt. This will help to extract any excess liquid from these two salad vegetables.
- Remove the leaves and the core of the cauliflower and chop into florets.
- Place in a food processor with an S shaped blade and pulse 10-15 times until the cauliflower is broken up into couscous size.
- Heat a medium-sized saucepan and add the olive oil, water, Baharat spice blend and a generous pinch of salt. Stir in the cauliflower couscous and put the lid on. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring every minute. Turn off heat and leave to cool in the saucepan.
- In a mini food processor, add the spring onions, parsley, mint. Then add the lemon zest from one lemon and the lemon juice from both lemons as well as the olive oil. Pulse until the spring onions and herbs are finely chopped, but not long enough to turn this into a sauce. You will probably need to pulse around 10-12 times, but every food processor is a little different – I use the mini food processor attachment that came with my stick blender.
- Combine the cauliflower couscous and the finely chopped herbs.
- Drain the tomato and cucumber mix of any liquid and add to the rest of the tabbouleh ingredients.
- Finally sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top.
Notes
- If you don’t have a cauliflower, try switching this to couscous, quinoa, buckwheat groats, amaranth or toasted millet – cook as per the packet's instructions for each one.
- Lowering Histamine/Avoiding Nightshades: if you are avoiding tomatoes then switch to finely-diced red peppers and/or carrot or leave out. Switch the lemon zest and juice to 2 tablespoons of sumac powder. Switch the Baharat to All Spice.
- Baharat spice blend can be bought in most supermarkets now, but if you are struggling to source it, these are the spices that you need: coriander seeds, cumin seeds, whole cloves, black peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom pods, nutmeg, paprika.
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