This recipe came about because I’ve been diving deep into Persian and Arabic cuisine, trying to wrap my head around what flavors are consistent and what ones are more regional – aaaaaaand I needed to use up a few stock ingredients before purchasing more fresh.

So – with this dish, we take the tomato, pomegranate and pistachio from this region, the parsley and onions found pretty much everywhere, cauliflower rice from the US (or you could probably go for India here – they have cauli, but riced is an American thing to the best of my knowledge), and blueberries from the US/Europe.

This makes a nice light side for basic chicken or beef (I first ate it with curry chicken breast), or alone and chilled as a salad.

gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, keto (watch your carbs from tomatoes, nuts and berries)

Persian-ish Cauliflower Rice

1 small head cauliflower, riced about 4 cups (I used some I had frozen and thawed)
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. fat of choice (I used coconut oil)
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, divided
10 cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup parsley
1/4 cup pistachios
Salt & pepper

Dice the onion and garlic. Heat your fat in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sautee until translucent.

While the onion and garlic is working, gather the rest of your ingredients.

When the onion and garlic mixture is translucent, add the cauliflower rice, a hit of salt & pepper, stir, and let cook 3 – 5 minutes.

While the cauliflower mix is working, cut the tomatoes in half and chop both the pistachios and parsley.

Add the garlic powder, onion powder, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, pomegranate molasses, half the lemon juice, and tomatoes. Stir to combine and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Cut the heat and add the blueberries, parsley and pistachio. Taste and add salt & pepper if needed – add the rest of the lemon juice here if desired. I wanted mine extra zingy, so I did. It would have been fine without.

Serves 4 as a side