Our recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread makes a Middle Eastern inspired dish. Spread hummus onto warm flatbread, top with spiced cauliflower and chickpeas, drizzle with garlic yoghurt sauce, sprinkle with pistachios, sumac and flat-leaf parsley or coriander, and you’ve got a filling snack, lunch or light dinner, perfect for feeding a family or casual entertaining.
If you’re a fan of Middle Eastern food, you’ll love this dish of spiced pan fried cauliflower and chickpeas piled onto flatbread such as pita, mini naan, or even soft tortillas, which are warmed and spread with hummus (or baba ganoush). A garlicky lemony yoghurt sauce is drizzled on top, followed by a sprinkle of toasted pistachios and ground sumac, and a shower or young flat-leaf parsley leaves – or coriander if you prefer.
While this is a fantastic filling snack, lunch or light dinner portioned individually, you could also serve the dish as a vegetarian main or vegetable side, arranged on a serving plate as I do with this smoky char-grilled eggplant salad or this dish of roasted cauliflower florets on hummus, with crispy fried chickpeas, pickled shallots, and fresh mint – which was partly the inspiration for this dish. Mexican tacos and Middle Eastern shawarma were also inspirations.
If you’re doing some casual weekend entertaining, you could serve this dish alone (make a big batch) or dish it up as part of a proper Middle Eastern feast alongside Middle Eastern mezze such as hummus, baba ganoush and muhammara, and salads such as this farmers salad, fatoush, tabbouleh, and pearl couscous salad with pomegranate and pistachios, before serving warm dishes such as kofta kebabs, spiced meatballs, shish tawook (garlicky chicken), and spiced rice with cashews.
I’ll tell you more about this recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread below. But if you’re a lover of cauliflower, also see our recipes for the Indian cauliflower and potato curry called aloo gobi, and our cauliflower, cabbage and potato soup, which makes a creamy vegetable soup.
If you’re a fan of chickpeas, see our collection of best chickpea recipes, which includes recipes for a rich Moroccan chickpea soup; a North Indian Punjabi chole, a spiced chickpea curry; lots of hummus recipes, from a healthy carrot hummus to hummus with spiced beef; and my favourite fatteh recipe with crispy pita, spiced chickpeas, a yogurt sauce, nuts, and fresh herbs, which I liken to a Middle Eastern nachos or chilaquiles.
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Pan Fried Cauliflower Recipe with Chickpeas and Pistachios on Flatbread with Yoghurt Sauce
My recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread came about because I fell in love with the most beautiful cauliflower I’ve ever seen. Enveloped in glorious green leaves, it had to be unwrapped like a gift. Inside was a colossal, lily-white cauliflower, almost cloud-like in appearance. It was so perfect it could have won an agricultural show prize. I had to take it home with me.
I wanted to make my roasted cauliflower dish, which I linked to above, but as I’m currently at my mum’s in Australia and she doesn’t have a working oven, I had to create a cauliflower dish that could be cooked on the stovetop. I wanted to create something that could be eaten with hands, like a Mexican taco, as mum prefers to eat in the comfort of her sofa chair these days.
So I concocted this recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread, which compared to that roast cauliflower is a bit ‘same same but different’ as we say in Southeast Asia. While I created the dish to be eaten as you would a taco or shawarma, there’s no reason why you couldn’t plate this up like I do that roasted cauliflower, on a serving plate.
This spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread is a perfect candidate for that quintessentially Middle Eastern style of dish that is spread across creamy hummus, white bean purée or yoghurt, such as these traditional hummus-based dishes like balela salad (village salad on hummus and chickpeas) and hummus bil lahme (spiced minced beef on hummus), and Turkish Antalya piyaz, a salad of tomatoes and boiled eggs piled on a butter bean purée.
If you’re a fan of that style of dish, try these grilled baby carrots on dill yoghurt with dukkah and fresh herbs, our cucumber salad on creamy white bean purée, this char grilled baby corn on creamy butter beans with caramelised shallots and crispy pistachios, and my corn salad with bacon, pearl couscous, flat leaf parsley and fried shallots.
This dish is so deliciously addictive we happily ate it for days and while I love this recipe, the dish is nothing if not versatile: fry the cauliflower less if you prefer it firmer and crunchier; replace chickpeas with lentils and the pistachios with cashews or other nuts; pile the lot onto baba ganoush, drizzle with plain yogurt instead of the garlicky lemony yogurt sauce, and shower with fresh coriander or your favourite herb.
Let me share a few more tips to making this recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread.
Tips to Making this Spiced Pan Fried Cauliflower Recipe with Chickpeas and Pistachios with Yoghurt Sauce
Here are some tips to making this recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread.
Start with the Yogurt Garlic Sauce
Start by making the yogurt garlic sauce with natural yogurt, toum (the Middle Eastern garlic condiment), lemon juice, and a little salt. Use natural yogurt as Greek-style yogurt is too thick and creamy and you want a pourable yogurt sauce. Fresh lemon juice is better than store-bought.
I recommend using toum – we have a recipe for homemade toum here, but you could use store-bought toum or ‘garlic dip’ as it’s called in supermarkets in Australia – but you could also use finely minced fresh garlic or garlic powder.
Just stir the ingredients together in a small jug with spout, taste when you’re done and adjust to suit your palate if needed, then refrigerate the jug until you’re ready to serve. Don’t have all the ingredients? You could just use yogurt.
Prep the Dried Spices
I love ground cumin, paprika, allspice, cinnamon, coriander, and salt, which are typically included in the Middle Eastern spice blend called baharat. But you can use any combination of those spices – ground paprika and cumin taste great.
You’ll use half the spice mix when you pan fry the cauliflower and half when you fry the chickpeas. You could stir the dried spices in a small bowl to combine them, but I like to make a bigger batch and use a spice funnel to transfer the spices to an empty spice shaker, or a vintage mason jar or clip-top Kilner jar.
Toast the Pistachios
I use this adorable mini fry pan to toast nuts and spices. While you can toast nuts in a dry pan, I recommend using a teaspoon of vegetable oil, just enough to coat the surface of the pan, to give the pistachios colour as much as crunch.
You’ll heat the oil over low heat until it’s shimmering then add the pistachios and fry the nuts for a minute or so. Make sure to shake the pan continuously so that they don’t brown or burn. When done, transfer the pistachios to a small dish.
Cook the Cauliflower and Chickpeas
Use a large frying pan to cook the cauliflower and chickpeas. I recommend cooking them separately to control the texture. First, you’ll fry the florets and diced stalks in extra virgin olive oil with half the spice mix until golden-brown. If you prefer the cauliflower firmer and crisper, cook it for less, then transfer it to a bowl.
Next, fry the diced onion and drained chickpeas in the remaining extra virgin olive oil and spice mix until the chickpeas are soft. Add a little water if needed. When done, add the currants, return the cauliflower, stir to combine, turn the heat off, and you’re almost ready to serve.
My recipe calls for canned chickpeas. You can also use dried chickpeas but you’ll need to soak them overnight.
Warm the Flatbread
Use that same small pan you fried the pistachios in to warm your flatbreads. While you could make your own Arabic flatbread, you can use store-bought small pita bread or even ‘mini naan’, as I’ve also been using recently. I love them as they soften and puff up when warm but are still firm enough to hold the cauliflower and chickpeas mixture.
Plate It All Up
Lastly, generously spread some creamy hummus on the flatbread. You can use store-bought hummus, but we think our hummus recipe makes a better tasting hummus. It literally takes minutes to make in a food processor or blender.
Pile the spiced cauliflower and chickpeas on top of the hummus, pour on the garlic yogurt sauce, sprinkle on the toasted pistachios, ground sumac, and fresh flat-leaf parsley or fresh coriander sprigs, and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Pan Fried Cauliflower, Chickpeas and Pistachios with Garlic Yoghurt Sauce
Ingredients
Yogurt Garlic Sauce
- 1 cup natural yogurt
- 1 tbsp toum garlic sauce - or more to taste
- ½ cup lemon juice - or more to taste
- ¼ tsp salt
Cauliflower and Chickpeas
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp pistachios - 1 tbsp is approx 24 pistachios
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground paprika
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - divided
- 1 cauliflower - cut into small florets and dice trimmed stalks
- 1 onion - finely diced
- 400 g can chickpeas
- 1 tbsp currants
- 6 small flatbreads - or mini naan
- 200 g hummus - homemade (link to our recipe) or store-bought
- ½ tsp ground sumac
- 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley - small leaves or chopped, or fresh coriander sprigs
Instructions
- In a small jug with spout, stir the natural yogurt, toum (garlic sauce), lemon juice, and salt together, taste, adjust to suit your palate, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- In a small bowl or shaker combine the dried spices and set aside; you’ll use half the spice mix when you pan fry the cauliflower and half when you fry the chickpeas.
- Add the teaspoon of vegetable oil to a small frying pan, just enough to coat the surface, heat over low heat until shimmering, and add the pistachios. Fry for a minute or so, shaking the pan continuously, to crisp up the nuts and brighten their colour, taking care not to let them brown or burn. When done, transfer to a small dish.
- To a large frying pan, add 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and heat over medium until shimmering. Add the cauliflower florets, diced stalks and half the spice mix, stir to thoroughly cover the cauliflower in spices, and fry, stirring frequently, until golden-brown. Transfer to a bowl.
- To the same pan, add another 2 tablespoons olive oil and finely diced onion, and fry until soft and translucent. Add the drained chickpeas and remaining spice mix, stir to combine, and fry until the chickpeas are soft, adding a little water if needed. Add the currants, return the cauliflower to the pan, stir to combine well, and turn the heat off.
- In a fry pan, warm the flatbreads or mini naan. Generously spread each with hummus, pile on the spiced cauliflower and chickpeas, pour on the garlic yogurt sauce, sprinkle on the ground sumac, toasted pistachios and fresh flat-leaf parsley or fresh coriander and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make our recipe for spiced pan fried cauliflower, chickpeas and pistachios on flatbread, as we love hearing how our recipes turn out for you.
