This recipe is super seasonal and bursting with colour. It’s a lovely pan-fried cauliflower dish that brims with flavour – rose harissa, pomegranate, mint and a creamy hummus made from cashew nuts. Very indulgent! You don’t even need meat as this dish has it all.
The star of the show is the rose harissa. Flecked over the cauli, it brings a sultry spice and a slow-burning heat. The whole dish is brought together by the herby freekeh, a roasted grain with a hint of nuttiness, traditionally used in Middle Eastern cuisine. The blend of textures and colours in this recipe creates a lovely visual beauty, and as you eat with your eyes first, this hits the spot even before you’ve had a taste.
Pan-fried harissa cauliflower with pomegranate
Prep 1hr
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
1 cauliflower
100ml olive oil
3 tbsp Belazu Rose Harissa paste
100g butter, softened
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
For the hummus
100g roasted cashew nuts
200g chickpeas, cooked or tinned
40g Belazu Tahini
½ lemon, juiced
100ml Belazu Verdemanda Olive Oil
1 clove garlic, sliced
Salt
For the freekeh
200g freekeh
1 bunch parsley and
1 bunch mint, chopped
1 pomegranate, seeded
2 Belazu Preserved Beldi Lemons, finely chopped
1 lemon, juice and zest
100ml Belazu Verdemanda Olive Oil
Salt
Begin by cutting the cauliflower into quarters. Set a frying pan over a medium heat and add 100ml olive oil. When that’s hot, season the cauliflower with salt and place each piece in the frying pan on one side. Cook for about two minutes until coloured, then turn and brown the other side. Finally, flip on to the outside of the cauliflower. You may need to wobble the pan a bit to get it nicely coloured all over.
With its blend of spices and rose petals, Belazu Rose Harissa adds depth to any dish
Mix together the butter, garlic and harissa paste, then scrape into the frying pan, stirring with the oil to make a sauce. Use this to baste the cauliflower for two minutes. It’s cooked when a knife goes through without resistance. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to rest while you make the cashew hummus.
For this, blitz together all the ingredients except the salt in a food processor, dribbling in cold water until the consistency is smooth, like butter. Add salt to taste and refrigerate until you need it.
To cook the freekeh, boil it following the instructions on the packet. It should take about 15 minutes as you want it to have a little bite. Rinse the cooked freekeh in cold water to cool it down and drain well. Mix in the chopped herbs, pomegranate seeds, preserved lemon, lemon juice, zest and olive oil. Add salt to taste.
To serve, spread the cashew nut hummus on the base of a big flat dish or platter and top with the cauliflower. Spoon over the remaining juices from the frying pan, and then load on the dressed freekeh. Enjoy.
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