Cauliflower is one of the main staples in our household for a number of reasons. With its neutral taste, cauliflower imitates very well a variety of dishes (puree, rice, wraps and much more). It is very versatile and easy to prepare, I cook it pretty much daily, but it hasn’t always been like this…For many years I avoided vegetables from the cabbage family because of the myth that they are goitrogens and according to a popular belief all goitrogenic vegetables are supposed to cause thyroid function to slow down… Luckily, I didn’t exclude cruciferous completely from my diet, but I almost never bought cauliflower before. In many occasions when I saw other people buying cauliflower I wondered what they found so good about it…it seemed to me so tasteless…huge mistake! Nowadays, if somebody would ask me to pick my favorite vegetable, I would most probably choose cauliflower because of the above-mentioned qualities that it possesses.

Last spring I came across a yellow cauliflower at the Granville island market and surely enough the next time I cooked cauliflower I added a pinch of turmeric to it, nice… However, yellow cauliflower, because of its color, also contains carotenoids, so the question is how to benefit from those if most of the times only a white cauliflower is available? Wait a minute, what about adding a red palm oil while cooking cauliflower? Bingo! Red palm oil is packed with vitamins A and E and it gives a nice golden color to a cauliflower, which is a win-win situation! I like to mix red palm oil with coconut oil as they complement each other and red palm oil has a more delicate taste when it is coupled with coconut oil. It’s been quite a while since I’ve incorporated the practice to roast carrots, pumpkin and a number of other vegetables in a mixture of two oils to boost carotenoids levels and I do not have to worry about vitamin A supply for my eyes!

These roasted cauliflower florets made a solid addition to my lunch pack. I personally have them at least twice during a working week. Why so often? Because they are easy to cook, healthy and “get along very well” with other vegetables and proteins. I also like to vary this recipe a little bit by adding or omitting lime zest and juice.

Spicy Cauliflower Roasted in Red Palm Oil

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Author: Zesty Paleo

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons red palm oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin*
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 390F.
2. Cut the cauliflower into florets.
3. In a large bowl mix together the coconut oil, red palm oil, ginger, garlic and salt.
4. Add the cauliflower florets to the bowl and toss so that everything is coated with the mixture.
5. Spread the cauliflower florets in a single layer on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast on the middle rack for 40 to 45 minutes or until the florets are browned to your liking.
6. Sprinkle with lime juice and zest and serve.

Notes

*Omit during elimination stage of the AIP.

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