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Five-Ingredient Fridays: Purple Cauliflower Millet Bowl

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Perfectly roasted purple cauliflower florets paired with fluffy millet, seasoned with za’atar, and tossed with feta. You’ll love the bold flavors in this side dish!

Cauliflower Millet Bowl | Healthy Nibbles and Bits

It just so happens that my favorite color is also the color of royalty. From my jacket to my water bottle, to my computer case, to my yoga pants, I am cloaked in and surrounded by purple every day. Some people might call my love of purple an obsession. I just think I have regal taste.

Cauliflower Millet Bowl | Healthy Nibbles and Bits

Indeed, there is no better way to celebrate my love for purple than to create a recipe featuring a vibrant purple vegetable.

Purple cauliflower is part of the Romanesco family, along with its green and yellow/orange cousins. To me, they taste just like regular cauliflower, but their gorgeous color sets them miles apart from the white variety.

Purple Cauliflower

For some reason, this cauliflower reminds me of the “funky purple” ketchup that Heinz marketed in the 90s. That was a failure. Purple cauliflower, not so much.

Cauliflower Millet Bowl | Healthy Nibbles and Bits

I used some leftover millet and added za’atar (a common eastern Mediterranean spice) and feta to give bold flavors to this dish. All I have to say is that I can’t believe I made this dish with 5 ingredients!

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Purple Cauliflower Millet Bowl

Cauliflower Millet Bowl | Healthy Nibbles and Bits
  • Author: Lisa Lin
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: gluten-free, side, lunch, dinner

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 large head of purple cauliflower (~2.5 lbs/~1 kg), rinsed
  • 3 TBS olive oil, divided
  • 2 and 1/2 TBS za’atar, divided
  • 1 TBS sea salt, divided
  • 5 TBS feta cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (~205ºC). Line a large baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
  2. Chop the cauliflower into small florets. I like to chop the florets in half or into quarters, depending on the size of each floret.
  3. In a large bowl, mix the florets, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon of za’atar, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt together. Place the florets on the baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, or until they are slightly browned.
  4. Pour 3 cups of cooked millet into the same bowl that you used to toss the cauliflower. Feel free to substitute the millet with your favorite grains.
  5. Mix the millet with the rest of the oil, za’atar, salt, and feta.
  6. Serve the millet with the roasted cauliflower and enjoy it as a side dish. Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.

Notes

1. For directions on how to cook millet, turn to this post from The Kitchn.br][br]2. I created my own za’atar blend by adapting recipes from 101 Cookbooks and [Bon Appétit: Mix together 1 TBS dried thyme, 1 TBS sesame seeds, 2 tsp sumac, 1 and 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 and 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper. [br][br]3. Feel free to substitute the za’atar with any other spice blends you have on hand.

Looking for more recipes that use Romanesco cauliflower? Try these swiss chard wraps made with yellow/orange cauliflower!

Swiss Chard Wraps

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jen says

    This looks so good, Lisa. I’m a bit fan of millet, but I’ve never tried purple cauliflower. Need to add this to my list of meals to try! 🙂

    Reply

  6. Joanne says

    Purple cauliflower somehow makes eating it feel more fun! I love the middle eastern flavors in this side dish! Za’atar is such a great blend.

    Reply

    • Lisa says

      I have been ALL about colored cauliflower lately. This is the first time I made my own za’atar, and it’s so much better than the blends I usually buy!

      Reply

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