Pic of Tahini roasted cauliflower with halloumi & lentils

Tahini roasted cauliflower with halloumi & lentils

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Vegetarian mains

Tahini roasted cauliflower with halloumi & lentils

Serves 2 55 min

Don't throw your cauli leaves! They have a lot of culinary value, as does the stalk. In this recipe we use both. Cauliflower is roasted in lemony tahini, and served with fried halloumi chunks on a bed of harissa lentils.

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Ingredients

  • 1 cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 15g mint
  • 1 chilli - optional, add to taste
  • 1 tin dark lentils
  • 1 tbsp harissa - add to taste
  • 1 tsp bouillon powder
  • 200g halloumi cheese
Image of Tahini roasted cauliflower with halloumi & lentils

Method

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 45 min

  • Step 1

    Preheat your oven to 200˚C/Gas 6. Remove the cauliflower leaves. Keep the leaves, except any very rough looking ones. Chop the cauliflower in half through the stem, then into chunky pieces, using the stalk too. If your cauliflower is very large, keep some for another meal – we used 250g of chopped cauliflower.

  • Step 2

    In a shallow dish, mix the tahini with 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 1 tbsp of oil. Toss in the cauliflower and mix to coat. Pop it all into a roasting tin and season. Set aside.

  • Step 3

    Separate the large cauliflower leaves, the ones with thicker rib stems from the smaller, paler leaves. Thinly slice the larger ones, keep the small ones whole.

  • Step 4

    Thinly slice the onion. Peel and finely chop or grate the garlic.

  • Step 5

    Pop the cauliflower into the oven. Roast it for approx. 20 minutes, tossing halfway.

  • Step 6

    Gently fry the onion in a little oil with sliced cauliflower leaves (not the whole ones) for 8 minutes, stirring now and then.

  • Step 7

    Thinly shred 1 good tbsp of mint leaves. If you like chilli, thinly slice some into rounds. Drain the lentils and rinse in a sieve.

  • Step 8

    Into the onion, stir the garlic and the harissa. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the lentils, bouillon powder, whole cauliflower leaves and 250ml of cold water. Bring the mixture to a low boil and simmer for 5 mins.

  • Step 9

    Chop the halloumi into 2-3 cm chunks. Heat a (dry) frying pan, with no oil in it. When hot, fry the halloumi until nicely coloured.

  • Step 10

    Stir the chopped mint into the lentils and season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, all to taste.

  • Step 11

    Serve the lentils topped with halloumi and roasted cauliflower, with some chilli and more freshly shredded mint leaves too, if you like.

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