Spiced Cauliflower And Carrot Salad With Tahini Dressing

Do you ever eat the same meal almost day-in day-out until you get sick of it? Well I definitely do! Though luckily I’m not yet sick of this damn good spiced cauliflower and carrot salad. It’s definitely inspired by my travels to Morocco and the Persian cook books I have. It’s full of different flavours like the fragrant mint and parsley, juicy pomegranate, salty feta and crunchy hazelnuts. It’s hard to ever get bored of it!

I do love a good salad, but it has to have some substance. A limp iceberg lettuce and some tomatoes and cucumber just won’t cut it. Nope. I need interesting flavours and textures! I’ve become a little obsessed with cauliflower at the moment. Not in the form of cauliflower rice, but as big ‘meaty’ chunks.

This salad recipe has evolved over the last few months (I’ve made it almost weekly) and I think it’s pretty much perfect now! The balance of spices and the textures make it a great vegetarian salad recipe. I love the sweetness from the pomegranate and the saltiness of the feta, sweet and savoury is one of my favourite combos. Oh and I’m obsessed with adding dry roasted nuts to all my salads and soups now! Something I learnt from a Modern Way To Cook. The biggest thing for me when eating a vegetarian meal is the textures. I think sometimes I don’t feel fully satisfied because it’s all a bit soft. The nuts make a huge difference!

This is a great meal to prep on a Sunday so you can have it for lunch or dinner during the week. It can be served hot or cold and the roasted cauliflower and carrots last well. Just chop up your herbs and feta as you go through the week to keep it fresh. Oh, and if you leave out the feta, it’s vegan friendly too! Yes yes, I know how much of a crowd pleaser this recipe is!

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Serves 3 – 4

Spiced Cauliflower And Carrot Salad

Ingredients for salad

• 1 whole cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 4 carrots, chopped (see note below)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 28g fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 28g fresh mint, finely chopped
• 100g pomegranate
• 50g feta
• 1/2 cup of hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup pistachios
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
• Salt & pepper

Ingredients for tahini dressing

• 1.5 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp water

Method

1. The first thing to do is get your spiced cauliflower and carrots into the oven to roast. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C. I like to keep the carrots quite chunky so I cut them in half length ways and then diagonally cut each half into 3 pieces.
2. Pop a baking tray with the coconut oil into the oven for a few minutes to melt. In a bowl mix all the spices together and season with salt and pepper. Take the tray out of the oven and add the spice mixture to the oil. Then add the cauliflower and carrots and make sure they are coated in the paste-like mixture. Roast for 10 minutes.
3. Now put the quinoa on to boil with the vegetable stock cube in the water and follow the instructions on the packet (normally around 15 minutes). Once cooked drain and set aside.
4. Whilst your quinoa is boiling you can also toast the nuts in a hot but dry frying pan. Heat the pan for a minute then add the nuts when they start to brown slightly take them off the heat.
5. To make the dressing add the tahini, maple syrup, lemon and garlic to a mixing bowl and stir until smooth. It will be a thick mixture. Then add the water. If this is still too thick for you you can always add a little more until you’re happy with it’s consistency.
6. After the cauliflower and carrots have been roasting for 10 minutes, take the tray out and give it a stir and place back into the oven for 10 more minutes. Once cooked take out of the oven and set aside.
7. Now it’s time to assemble the salad! In a big mixing bowl mix the quinoa, carrots, cauliflower, mint, parsley and pomegranate seeds together. Then crumble in your feta (you can add more if you fancy!) and add the nuts and toss.
8. Then either serve on individual plates of just let everyone dig in!

 

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