Tender chunks of roasted cauliflower with delicious thai flavors and a spicy dipping sauce. This easy low carb appetizer will keep you coming back for more.
You have to pity the low carber or paleo dieter who doesn’t like cauliflower. I’ve always loved it and most other cruciferous vegetables so I came to this way of eating well-armed with choices. But cauliflower is by far the most versatile among the low carb vegetables, with perhaps the exception of zucchini. A love for these two veggies makes the transition to a low carb or paleo lifestyle a far sight easier as they can stand in for many of the former starchy, high carb favourites. The pale off-white cauliflower is particularly good at disguising itself as other foods: rice, mashed potatoes, pizza crust, and macaroni among them. I’ve even seen tortillas made from cauliflower. If you’ve decided to go paleo or low carb, you’d better come to love cauliflower pretty darn quick.
As I’ve said, I’ve loved it all my life. Raw or cooked, I’d happily munch away at cauliflower. But my cauli creativity was severely lacking until I came face to face with pre-diabetes and decided to overhaul my diet completely. I basically ate it two ways: raw with dip or dressing, or steamed with butter and salt. That was the extent of my cauli culinary experience. Sort of pathetic for a semi-adventurous eater such as myself.
Now I love dreaming up fun ways to use that colourless descendent of wild cabbage. There are some amazingly creative cauliflower cooks out there, but I’ve come up with a few pretty good recipes myself. My Butternut Squash & Cauliflower Casserole is a perfect low carb Thanksgiving side dish, and my Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice is a healthy and delicious copycat recipe from Chipotle. And some readers swear that my Sour Cream & Cheddar Mashed Cauliflower is the closest low carb equivalent to mashed potatoes they’ve ever had. Since I was never that big a fan of mashed potatoes, I far prefer this lighter, healthier side dish myself.
And now many restaurants are getting in on the cauliflower action. This recipe was inspired by The Yard House which opened near us recently. They serve an appetizer of Za’atar Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dipping Sauce. I love it and have been known to make my whole meal out of it. I happen to have some za’atar from Penzey’s but I decided to switch it up and go with Thai-inspired flavours. We have been making a version of this peanut dipping sauce since time immemorial and roasted cauli makes a perfect sauce dipper. I will say, though, that the thai spices were so good with the cauliflower, I almost didn’t need the dipping sauce. Whether you make the sauce or not, it’s a fantastic recipe and makes a great low carb side dish or appetizer.
Thai Roasted Cauliflower with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
Dipping Sauce:
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce (Red Boat is sugar-free)
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
Roasted Cauliflower:
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1 large head cauliflower cut into small florets
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- Lime wedges for garnish
Instructions
Dipping Sauce:
- Combine water, peanut butter, vinegar, aminos or soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, pepper flakes and ginger in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Roasted Cauliflower:
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a small bowl, combine coriander, cumin, garlic powder, ginger, and cayenne. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss cauliflower florets with coconut oil and fish sauce. Add spice mixture and toss to coat.
- Spread cauliflower in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender and beginning to brown.
- Serve with lime wedges and peanut dipping sauce on the side.
Notes
Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 1.32g
Total fat: 11.06g
Calories from fat: 99
Cholesterol: --
Carbohydrate: 4.33g
Total dietary fiber: 1.37g
Protein: 3.05g
Nutrition
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