Paleo Persian Eggplant Stew over Cauliflower Rice

Cauliflower is such a moldable vegetable. My favorite way to prepare it is as rice because it’s very easy to season depending on the spices and herbs you add to it.

This was my first time using garam masala. I used beef stew to make this Khoresht-e Bademjan, also known as Paleo Persian Eggplant Stew over Cauliflower Rice. You can change up the flavor and use lamb meat in place of the beef stew. Either way you’ll have a delicious and flavorful meal.

When I was getting all the ingredients ready for my Pigskin Paleo LIVE event with Airbnb I made a trip to Penzey’s spices in Naperville. While I was walking around the store they had little recipe cards next to some of the spices. If you regularly get the Penzey’s magazine you’d know they publish many different recipes as examples of how to use the spices they sell. Being in the store was similar to reading the little stories and recipes they share in the magazine.

I picked up everything that was on my list and then browsed around a bit. I had yet to experiment with any Indian seasonings so I threw some curry and garam masala into my bag. I was inspired by the recipe card sitting next to the curry spice rack and came home and made a Paleo version of Khoresht-e Bademjan with this Persian Eggplant Stew over Cauliflower Rice.

Yield: 2-4 Servings

Ingredients

1lb grass-fed beef stew meat, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
1lb zucchini, thinly sliced
1 medium eggplant, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
coarse ground sea salt, to taste
coarse ground black pepper, to taste
2/3 cup water
1 head cauliflower, shredded
1 small onion, chopped
coarse ground sea salt, to taste
coarse ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

In a 3 quart cast iron pan over medium high heat, add the meat and cook until almost browned.
Add the onion and continue to cook until meat is browned and onions are soft.
Reduce the heat to medium then arrange the sliced zucchini in a layer over the browned meat in the pan followed by a layer of sliced eggplant. Top off the eggplant with the minced garlic, curry powder, turmeric, sea salt and black pepper.
Pour the water on top, making sure to moisten all the spices.
Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes.
While that's going you can start the rice. In a 10.25-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, add a tablespoon of onions along with ~2 cups of shredded cauliflower. Season with sea salt and black pepper and stir to combine. Continue to stir until browned. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl, grab another scoop of onion, shredded cauliflower, sea salt and black pepper and repeat until all ingredients are used up or you run out of onion. (Use remaining shredded cauliflower to make a salad for another meal, store in the fridge.)
Stir eggplant stew to combine ingredients.
Serve eggplant stew over cauliflower rice.
Enjoy! :)

Paleo Persian Eggplant Stew over Cauliflower Rice