Roasted Cauliflower Ottolenghi Rice Bowl | One of our favourite dishes of all time | Flexitarian Series
Posted: Apr 14 2020
Introducing our Roasted Cauliflower Ottolenghi Rice Bowl.
This is one of our family's favourite meals. The girls get so excited when they see us cooking the onions and can't wait to sneak some before dinner.
This is one of our longer recipes but we always make a double batch and the leftovers never last. We just store the onions, herbs & raisins separately and then re-crisp the onions in the toaster oven before we eat. Leftovers make a super easy weeknight meal or a fantastic lunch box meal.
Inspired by a recipe from the cookbook Jerusalem from authors Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini, we adapted this to include a variety of vegetables making it the perfect meal for the whole family.
Flexitarian Series - Our family is trying to eat less meat for our health and the environment. We follow the Michael Pollan credo “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” If someone in your home is craving some animal protein it’s easy enough to add on their plate. Grilled chicken or a baked sockeye salmon filet flaked up goes well with this dish.
Roasted Cauliflower Ottolenghi Rice Bowl
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
1/2 - 1 cup sunflower oil
1 medium onion
1 tbsp of all purpose flour
1 cup of basmati rice
1 bunch curly kale
1 can of chickpeas (398g), rinsed
2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp cilantro
2 tbsp parsley
1/2 cup raisins
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
Method
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Wash and chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Place into a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, cumin, paprika, and cayenne. Once spices are well distributed, place on a lined baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes until lightly charred.
Boil water in a kettle to be used for the rice. Meanwhile, thinly slice the onion and place in a bowl with 1 tbsp of flour and toss to coat.
In a medium or small pot pour about 1-2 cm of oil. Depending on the size of pot the amount of oil will vary. We prefer a smaller pot, use less oil and cook in small batches, but it takes a bit more time. Heat the oil on medium high heat.
To make the rice, add 1 tbsp of sunflower oil to medium pot and heat to medium high. Place 1 grain of rice in pot to see if the oil is hot.
If it sizzles, add rice and 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir until the rice is well coated and hot (approx 30 seconds).
Carefully pour 11/2 cups of boiling water into the pot (it will splash). Make sure all the rice is submerged and place on a tight fitting lid. Reduce the heat to low and set the timer for 15 minutes.
Prepare a baking sheet or plate lined with paper towel. Test the oil by placing a small piece of onion, if it sizzles, it is ready. Start cooking the onions in small batches. Remove from the oil with a slotted/mesh spoon when golden brown. Place on paper towel and sprinkle with salt right away. Add next batch of onions to the pot and repeat until all the onions are fried. Each batch should take a few minutes.
Between batches of the onions, wash, destem and tear kale into bite sized pieces. Wash, destem and roughly chop the cilantro, dill and parsley, set aside.
Once the timer for the rice is done, take it off the heat, place a clean tea towel over the pot and place the lid back on. Let the rice sit for another 10 minutes off the heat.
We like to reuse the oil from the onion. So once they are done being fried, we strain out the oil with a fine mesh strainer. Once strained, give the pot a quick wipe (careful it is hot) and place 1 tbsp on oil back into the pot. Quickly fry the kale with a pinch of salt until wilted but still bright green. When done, remove kale and place it on the paper towel lined baking sheet with the onions.
Next in the same pot, pour another tbsp of the onion oil into the pot and heat on medium. Fry the cumin seeds and curry powder, for about 20 seconds. Then add the chickpeas and 1/4 tsp of salt and stir through for another 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, roll a lemon on a cutting board, This will maximize the amount of juice. Cut the lemon in half and set aside.
In a large bowl add the rice, chickpeas, kale, and cauliflower. Give it a good toss and season to taste.
Time to plate! Dish out rice and veggies into bowls. Top with raisins, crispy onions, chopped herbs, a little squeeze of lemon juice and enjoy.
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