Indian Cauliflower Rice with Olives, Cashews, and Cilantro
Savory, with a zing of freshness, this Indian cauliflower rice is an easy and flavorful side dish when you need a vegetable for an Indian-themed meal. Mustard seeds, turmeric, and ginger gives loads of flavor, and olives and lemon juice balance out cauliflower’s earthy notes. With a sprinkling of herbs and cashews to finish, this dish looks and tastes spectacular! This Indian cauliflower rice goes great with samosas, tandoori chicken, or pakora, to name a few ideas!
This recipe was inspired from a tasty Indian cauliflower recipe featured on a Spice Islands calendar I somehow received back in college. I hope you enjoy!
One tip for making this recipe is regarding the mustard seeds: be sure to cover the pan! The mustard seeds are toasted in oil at the beginning of the recipe, and these seeds splatter like popcorn. And they are very hot. So, avoid a disaster, and cover your pan! I speak from experience. 😊
What is cauliflower rice?
If you’ve never had or heard of cauliflower rice before, there’s nothing too complicated about it. It is just raw cauliflower that you chop down into rice-sized pieces in a food processor.
In the US, you can often find cauliflower pre-riced in the frozen section. Here in France, the trend is only just arriving, so making my own is the best bet, plus it is so much cheaper. Here are a couple pointers for getting nice chopped cauliflower rice in your food processor:
- Chop the cauliflower first into roughly 1- to 2-inch pieces. They just need to be small enough so that they don’t get stuck when running the food processor.
- It only takes a few seconds to chop, 3 to 5 seconds of pulsing for me. You don’t want to make a purée after all!
There are many ways to cook cauliflower rice. In this recipe, we sauté the cauliflower rice in butter. Because the pieces are so small, it only takes 10 minutes to cook in the pan.
How to store uncooked cauliflower rice
Once the cauliflower is riced, but not yet cooked, you can either:
- Cook it right away
- Save it in the fridge for a few days, or
- Freeze up to three months (no blanching needed)
With this recipe, depending on the size of your cauliflower head, you may have leftover uncooked cauliflower rice. Don’t hesitate to freeze some for later, or try out my other cauliflower rice recipe: Cauliflower rice with fresh herbs and sundried tomato.
How to make ahead
For this Indian cauliflower rice, you can cook the cauliflower and add the olives and lemon juice ahead of time. The herbs and cashews are best put on the reheated cauliflower rice just before serving to get the best flavor from the herbs and the best texture from the nuts. You can pre-chop the herbs a few hours ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator. This Indian cauliflower rice also freezes very well up to three months.
Indian Cauliflower Rice with Olives, Cashews, and Cilantro
Ingredients
- 400 g (14 oz) cauliflower florets
- ½ tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 35 g (2 ½ tbsp) butter
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 13 g (⅓ cup) finely chopped parsley leaves
- 15 g (¼ cup) chopped cilantro leaves
- 50 g (⅓ cup) toasted, salted cashews
- 10 cured green olives halved
- 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Rice the cauliflower: Cut the cauliflower roughly into florets. Place the florets in a food processor and chop until the cauliflower is roughly the size of grains of rice. You may need to scrape down the cauliflower on the sides of the food processor in the middle of chopping. Also, I recommend chopping using pulses to avoid over-processing the cauliflower. You do not want to turn the cauliflower into a purée.
- Fry the mustard seeds: Heat ½ tbsp oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and cover the pan immediately. Once the seeds stop spattering, remove the lid (you won’t need it anymore). Be sure to keep an eye on the mustard seeds to avoid burning them. Once the mustard seeds are fried, turn the heat down to medium-low, and add the butter.
- Sauté: When the butter starts to sizzle, add the finely chopped onion, cook for 1 minute. Then add the cauliflower rice, turmeric, ginger, salt, and black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning and to allow the cauliflower to cook evenly. The cauliflower should become somewhat toasted.
- Chop: While the cauliflower is cooking, chop the cashews, herbs, and olives. The parsley should be finely chopped for the best texture.
- Assemble & serve: When the cauliflower is done cooking, stir in the lemon juice and top with the chopped ingredients. Serve right away.
1 thought on “Indian Cauliflower Rice with Olives, Cashews, and Cilantro”