We love the fresh flavors and crunchy texture of tabbouleh salad. In this recipe, we replace traditional bulgur wheat with cauliflower, the latest vegetable substitute for everything from pizza crust to cereal. Cauliflower has the right texture for tabbouleh and is a solid alternative for those looking to avoid gluten.
We rice and then cook the cauliflower for maximum texture (as opposed to using raw cauliflower, which releases too much water and dilutes the flavors of the other ingredients.) We also add Bragg’s nutritional yeast to provide an element of umami flavor. This is a fresh, healthy snack and can be served on its own or with a protein of choice. We recommend pairing this side dish with our grilled swordfish with mustard caper vinaigrette recipe.
Note the total time includes one hour for chilling the vegetables in advance of preparing the tabbouleh, and one hour for chilling all ingredients after tabbouleh is prepared.
Cauliflower tabbouleh salad
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, leaves removed and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup cucumber, diced into ¼” pieces
- 1 medium-sized red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced into ¼” pieces
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 2 Tbsp. sliced mint
- 2 Tbsp. sliced flat leaf parsley (watch our video on how to cut parsley)
- 1 Tbsp. chives, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (we use Bragg’s)
- 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- ¼ tsp. chili powder or powdered chili (we used Piment d’ Espelette)
Instructions
- Cut the cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes into uniform pieces with a sharp knife. Reserve in fridge.
- In a pot, bring 4 quarts of water plus 1 tsp. salt to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, add cauliflower pieces into food processor and pulse into small granules. Be careful not to over puree; you want to pulse just enough to preserve texture of cauliflower grains.
- Add the granules of cauliflower into the boiling water. After two minutes, remove cauliflower from water, strain into a mesh colander and cool.
- Once cooled, add cauliflower to a bowl and mix in other vegetables (cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes) and all other ingredients (mint, parsley, chives, scallions, yeast, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, chili powder). Gently fold the ingredients together with a large spoon.
- Reserve in fridge for one hour, allowing the flavors to meld together.
- Check for seasoning and serve.
Notes
- The total time includes one hour for chilling the vegetables in advance of preparing the tabbouleh, and one hour for chilling all ingredients after tabbouleh is prepared.
- We recommend pairing this side dish with our grilled swordfish with mustard caper vinaigrette recipe.
