Looking for a gluten-free, vegan and keto-friendly side dish? This recipe delivers. Don’t let the deceptively few ingredients or quick prep fool you: sometimes it only takes a bit of investment to get a high return. And it gets more veggie volume on your plate!

Yield: 3 servings

What you need:

• 4 cups grated/riced cauliflower (see note at the end on how to do that)
• 1 tablespoon mustard oil or olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ajwain
• 10 fresh curry leaves if available (optional)
• 1 tablespoon toasted black or white sesame seeds (optional)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (flat or curly, optional)
• salt
• a large wedge of lime (optional, but recommended)

What you do:

1. Heat a non-stick (read cast-iron) pan over medium heat. When hot, add the oil, mustard seeds and ajwain. Let the seeds sizzle a few seconds, this should happen pretty much immediately. Just before the mustard seeds start to pop all over the place, add the curry leaves – careful, they’ll splutter.
2. Stir once and add the riced cauliflower to the pan. Stir to coat in oil and cook, stirring now and again for 3 or 4 minutes.
3. Salt to desired level and add the toasted sesame seeds. Stir to distribute salt and sesame evenly throughout. Cover the pan and let everything steam, still over medium heat, for another 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Uncover and check to see if the cauliflower is cooked to your liking. I like the tiniest bit of crisp left with mostly tender. If you like really tender, cook a bit longer. If you like pretty crispy, then cook a little less or don’t cover the cauli at all and just sauté in the pan until you’re happy with the result.
5. Add the parsley and squeeze the lime wedge over the cauliflower. Mix well and cook another minute or two.
6. Serve; either leave it solo as shown here or put it in the bottom of a bowl and top it with your favourite chickpea curry!

Note: To rice cauliflower, you have a couple of options. You can grate it into a bowl using the large holes of a box grater. While a bit messy, this is my preferred method for the fun factor. It also avoids cleaning the food processor… The second method if you hadn’t guessed by now is the food processor. Pulse large hunks of cauli in the processor until reduced to rice. Pulse with care so as not to turn everything to pulp.