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Curried Cauliflower with Israeli Couscous and Grains

a bowl of curried cauliflower and couscous salad

Have you ever created a recipe at home, completely out of necessity? Because you ate it while on vacation far, far away, or a store has stopped carrying a product that you love? And you simply can’t live without its utter fabulousness in your life on a regular basis?!

Well that’s how this Curried Cauliflower with Israeli Couscous and Grains came to be.

It’s a new recipe I created as part of a partnership with Land O’Lakes! I’m teaming up with Ree Drummond/The Pioneer Woman, and Becky Wahlund, Director of the Land O’Lakes TestKitchen, to bring you Kitchen Conversations by Land O’ Lakes. 

KitchenConversations by Land O'Lakes

Kitchen Conversations is about bringing together bloggers with unique backgrounds and cooking styles, and inspiring home cooks to feel more confident and have more fun in the kitchen.

A few of my favorite food bloggers are also involved:

You can keep up on all the recipes and fun at Land O’Lakes and through the hashtag #KtchnConvo on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. I’ll also keep you posted here on a farmgirl’s dabbles!

Our first topic of conversation took place via webinar, and we talked about food trends. Which brings me back to couscous and grains…

Last summer my family became hooked on an Israeli couscous and grains blend that I picked up at the store. Each time I prepared it, I gave it a little different twist, depending on what else was being served for a particular meal. I always began by adding a simple mixture of onions, sweet peppers, and garlic, sautéed until softened and fragrant. And then I would start playing around…maybe I’d add curry and golden raisins to complement a Middle Eastern meal…or diced fresh tomatoes, cumin, and a touch of chipotle for taco night. Whatever was fresh and flavorful was fair game. And when our herb garden was bountiful last summer, I’d enlist our young girls to pick a handful of whatever looked good to them, to incorporate into the dish. Fresh herbs add such a flavor boost that you just can’t get anywhere else.

Coming up with my own couscous and grains blend became a necessity, though, when after several trips to our local store, that particular product was always sold out. After not finding it for several weeks, I was getting cranky. And I was craving that dish more than ever.

It was time to get serious and push my own resourcefulness…

red quinoa,  millet, baby garbanzo beans, and israeli couscous

So I gathered ingredients individually and came up with my own blend. I used:

With my own blend now readily available from our pantry, I was back in the kitchen!

land o lakes half sticks of olive oil and sea salt butter

I’ve always used a mixture of butter and olive oil when sautéeing. I like olive oil for its higher smoke point, and butter for the beautiful rich flavor only butter can impart, plus the pretty golden crust it creates. These two ingredients, plus the perfect touch of sea salt, were just meant to be together. So using the new Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt has become a natural choice for me whenever I sauté. My daughters also like to stir it into their pasta, and I like to melt it and drizzle it over popcorn. Yum!

This recipe for Curried Cauliflower with Israeli Couscous and Grains features two separate sautés, using the perfect portion of one convenient half stick of Land O Lakes® Butter. First, onion, sweet red pepper, and garlic are cooked in Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, until softened and fragrant. Once that mixture is removed from the pan, cauliflower florets are added, along with a bit more butter, plus curry and cumin. Can you smell the deliciousness?!

I am only a recent fan of cauliflower, and encourage cauliflower naysayers to try both sautéeing and roasting this vegetable before completely writing it out of their lives. These two cooking methods magically transform cauliflower, just like they do many vegetables, and have made cauliflower the cool new dish in our home. My family absolutely devours it, and I’ve started buying two heads for each meal, as one is never quite enough for the four of us.

This particular dish, where cauliflower and other veggies are sautéed and then married to a mixture of Israeli couscous and grains, has quickly become a family favorite. The house smells fantastic as it’s being prepared, and I can directly quote our oldest daughter from the first time her eyes settled on the finished dish, “Oh, Mom, it’s so pretty!” But the true test is always waiting to see if everyone goes back for seconds…

And they did.

Utter fabulousness!

curried cauliflower with Israeli couscous and grains
curried cauliflower with Israeli couscous and grains

Curried Cauliflower with Israeli Couscous and Grains

Yield: 8 servings
prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 40 minutes
total time: 1 hour
This particular dish, where cauliflower and other veggies are sautéed and then married to a mixture of Israeli couscous and grains, has quickly become a family favorite.
5 Stars (1 Review)
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 half stick 4 tablespoons Land O Lakes Butter® with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, divided
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt divided
  • ¼ cup red quinoa
  • ¼ cup millet
  • ¼ cup split baby garbanzo beans also called chana dal beans
  • ½ cup Israeli couscous
  • 1 cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 cup diced red pepper
  • 2 large garlic cloves minced
  • 3 cups small cauliflower florets
  • ¾ teaspoon mild or sweet curry powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

  • In a large sauce pan over high heat, bring chicken broth to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1/2 teaspoon of the kosher salt. Then stir in quinoa, millet, and garbanzo beans. Reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Cook for 10 minutes. Then stir in couscous, cover with lid again, and cook for 15 minutes more. Remove pan from heat, leaving the lid on.
  • In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt 1-1/2 tablespoons of the Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt. Add onion, red pepper, and garlic, and stir to combine. Sauté for about 8 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until onion is soft and translucent. S
  • lide the vegetable mixture into the pan with the couscous mixture, and cover pan again with lid. (If couscous is not done cooking at this point, slide vegetables onto an extra plate, and add to couscous later.)
  • Return same skillet to the burner (no need to wash pan first) and turn the heat up just a bit, to medium-high. Add the remaining 1-1/2 tablespoons of Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt. Once the butter is melted, add cauliflower and stir to coat. Sprinkle evenly with curry, cumin, and black pepper, and then stir again.
  • Sauté for about 6 minutes, stirring every couple minutes, until cauliflower is tender but still firm. Add cauliflower to couscous and vegetable mixture, along with the cilantro, and fold to combine. Serve warm.

Notes

From a farmgirl’s dabbles

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 1 Calories: 103kcal Carbohydrates: 14g Protein: 4g Fat: 4g Saturated Fat: 1g Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 4mg Sodium: 376mg Fiber: 3g Sugar: 4g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Spoonacular. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a comment below. And share a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #afarmgirlsdabbles or tag @farmgirlsdabble!

Disclosure:  I’ve partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of Land O Lakes® Butter for their Kitchen Conversation blogger program. This post and the associated giveaway are sponsored by Land O’Lakes. All text and opinions are 100% my own.