Spring vegetable and cauliflower tabbouleh

Spring vegetable and cauliflower tabbouleh

Spring vegetable & cauliflower tabbouleh

Grated cauliflower replaces the grains in this twist on a Middle Eastern salad with parsley, mint, asparagus and courgette

  • plus cooling
  • Serves 4
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • Calories 223
  • Carbohydrates 9
  • Saturated Fat 2
  • Sugar 7
  • Protein 7
  • Fat 16
  • Fiber 6
  • Salt 0.4

Ingredients

  • 1 whole cauliflower (about 500g when trimmed)

  • 2 tbsp olive oil

  • 5 tbsp hot vegetable stock

  • 125g pack fine asparagus, stems cut into small pieces, tips left whole

  • 1 courgette, cut into small cubes

  • zest 2 lemons, juice of 1

  • 2 tsp golden caster sugar

  • 2 tbsp capers, drained and chopped

  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve

  • 50g parsley, leaves only

  • small pack mint, leaves only

  • bunch spring onions, shredded

Raw or cooked

You could use raw cauliflower here, but I prefer to lightly cook it with a little stock to mellow out the flavour and take the texture down a notch. 





Method

  1. Grate the cauliflower on the coarse side of a box grater, stopping only when you get to the very hard central core. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pan, add the cauliflower with some seasoning and fry over a medium heat for 3 mins, stirring regularly. Splash in the stock, stir, then cover the pan and cook for 3-4 mins more. Stir once or twice during cooking until the cauliflower is just tender and the stock is absorbed. Spread over a plate and leave to cool. Wipe out the pan.

  2. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the asparagus stems, courgette and seasoning. Fry over a high heat until turning golden, about 3 mins. Add the asparagus tips, fry for 2 mins more, then leave to cool.

  3. Mix the zest and lemon juice, and the sugar, capers, oil and some seasoning. Chop the herbs fairly finely, then tip into a large bowl with the cauliflower, vegetables and spring onions. When ready to eat, add the dressing and mix well. Mound onto a serving plate, drizzle with a little more oil, then cut the remaining zested lemon into wedges and serve alongside.