I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life, but more and more I’m enjoying cooking vegan meals and learning about the potential plant based meals have to be absolutely amazing. Cauliflower is a vegetable that transforms when roasted, from a fairly bland taste into something hearty, textured and deep.
Pair it with some good old protein rich lentils, and you have a winner. The thing is, I feel like vegan food has a completely bad rep, the term “rabbit food” comes to mind, however, when your very-much-a-carnivore husband loves these so much that he actually requests them (when I could quite easily make him a steak) you know it must be good.
The combination of the spices is something I played around with the first few times I made these, and now I think it’s perfect. There’s enough going on that your palette gets excited, without being overwhelmed and disjointed. The sultanas are a sweet surprise that balances the deep richness of the lentils, but if you really hate sweet things in your savory food, you can leave them out. I highly recommend you include them though!
You could really go to town on customizing these as well, I like avocado, yogurt and fresh coriander, but you could really add anything you like!
Related: Avocado Poached Egg Brunch Toast
This would be a perfect recipe for a taco party, or any kind of group event where you want a casual, everyone-help-themselves kind of affair. They will not disappoint!
Roasted Cauliflower Tacos with Spicy Lentils, Golden Sultanas and Avocado
Ingredients
Roasted Cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Lentils
- 3/4 cup red lentils
- 2 red onions small
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 1/4 cup vegetable stock
- 4 tbsp golden sultanas
For Serving
- small tortilla wraps
- avocado
- yogurt
- fresh coriander
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 Celsius). Chop the cauliflower into small florets, coat with a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay out in an even layer on a non stick baking sheet. Roast for 25 mins or until golden brown on the edges.
- While the cauliflower is roasting, dice the onions and mince the garlic. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan. Sauté the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes until the onion begins to become translucent.
- Add the spices and cook for another minute, then add the tomato paste and a few tablespoons of the vegetable stock to loosen the mixture a bit.
- Finally add the lentils, balsamic vinegar and the rest of the vegetable stock to the saucepan, stir and let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the lentils are cooked through. Add the sultanas about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time to give them time to soften a little. If there is any excess liquid left at the end drain it off before serving.
- Chop the avocado and spritz with a little lime juice to stop it going brown. Assemble the wraps however you like and enjoy!
These sounds scrummy. The spiced lentils sound heavenly, just the sort of thing i’d stand and eat out of the pan before they even made it to the tacos!
I love roasted cauliflower. Its such a surprise just how good it is, isn’t it! We eat it a lot as a side to curries. Its just a good as having something deep fried like onion bhajees, but so much lighter. I’m pinning this one to try soon :)
Jennie // Scarletscorchdroppers
Thank you Jennie! I know it really transforms into something quite meaty and definitely not bland! Hope you like it!