Quick to prepare, this nutty and fluffy Persian cauliflower rice with pumpkin seeds and parsley crisps is a brilliant quick fix winner dinner! Packed full of zingy Persian, taste-poking flavours and topped with omega3 bursting pumpkin seeds and sensational parsley crisps.
Cauliflower rice is a nutritious healthy, low carb alternative to rice. But there’s cauliflower rice and then there’s CAULIFLOWER RICE! Made incorrectly it can taste like cardboard infused sweaty socks! Don’t worry, we’ve all tried and tested one of those but I have a method that i’ve now perfected which makes it fluffy and delicious. It’s about steaming and then flash frying. I’ve thrown in lots of anti-inflammatory spices today to make a Persian twist on one of my all time favourite side dishes. I hope you enjoy it too.
Serves 1-2
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower
- 3 carrots
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 shallot
- 45g pumpkin seeds
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- Juice and zest of 1/2 lime
- 10g fresh parsley
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted.)
Peel, remove the tops from the carrots and dice into small cubes. Place on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of salt and roast in the oven for 20 minutes until tender.
Remove the stem and leaves from the cauliflower. Chop into chunks and blitz in a food processor using the S blade until its resembles a rice consistency. Place the cauliflower rice in a metal steamer in 1cm of water and cook for 3 minutes (or microwave on medium/ high for 5 minutes) until soft. Allow to cool slightly and transfer to a muslin cloth or clean thin tea towel. Squeeze out the excess water. This is the step that will make it fluffy!
After 10 minutes of the carrots being in the oven, add the pumpkin seeds and roast for a further 8 -10 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven.
Peel and finely dice the shallot and garlic. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Add the onion and garlic and sweat on a medium heat for 1- 2 minutes until translucent. Now add the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika and coriander seeds and fry for a further minute.
Add in the cauliflower rice, roasted carrots, toasted pumpkin seeds, pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, lime juice and zest. Fluff up with a fork and mix well. Cook for another 1 – 2 minutes until heated through.
Parsley crisps
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a frying pan. Add the parsley and fry for 1-2 minutes until crispy. Remove from the pan and place on a sheet of kitchen towel.
Transfer the Persian cauliflower rice to a bowl and top with your freshly made parsley crisps.
