When I was backpacking around Europe in my 20s, Turkey was one of my top 5 countries (along with Ireland, Spain, France). I loved how it felt both familiar and exotic.
One of my favourte things to eat were the flat, oval-shaped ‘pizzas’ topped with spicy meat, parsley and lemon juice. A great example of the familiar-exotic vibe of the whole country.
After years of missing out on Turkish Pizza, I had the inspiration to make a Low Carb version with my cauliflower pizza base recipe. Even my boys (confirmed vegetable dodgers) enjoy. Just don’t tell them it’s healthy!
Turkish Cauli Pizza
Ingredients
- 500 g cauliflower half a large cauli
- 100 g almond meal (almond flour)
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 450 g ground (minced) lamb or beef
- 2 t baharat or 1 teaspoon each ground cumin, coriander and paprika
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- handful roast pine nuts
- small bunch flat leaf parsley leaves picked
- lemon wedges to serve
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220C (425F). Line a rimmed baking sheet (tray) with baking paper. Chop cauliflower into bite sized chunks and process in the food processor until it looks like grains of couscous or small rice. If you don’t have a food processor you can grate the cauli but it’s lots of work!
- Add almond meal, eggs and salt to the cauli and mix with a spoon until combined. Tip mixture onto your prepared tray then use your hands to form into a large oval about 40cm (16in) long. I like to make a little boarder around the edges that is a bit thicker so it looks pretty.
- Bake base for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- While the base is cooking, heat a little oil in a large frying pan on a high heat. Add meat and cook, stirring until well browned and cooked through. Reduce heat to medium and add spices, tomato paste and a few tablespoons water. Cook for another minute or so and remove from the heat. Taste and season with salt.
- When the base is brown, top with the cooked meat mixture. Sprinkle over the pine nuts. Pop back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until everything is hot and the pine nuts are toasted.
- To serve scatter over parsley and slice into wedges. Serve with lemon for squeezing over the top.
WINE MATCH: A spicy temperanillo or malbec.
Variations & Substitutions
vegetarian – replace meat with cooked lentils and onion.
more substantial (carb lovers) – use regular pizza dough.
more substantial (low carb) – serve with a substantial vegetable side or a good drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil. I’ve also been known to eat it with a very un-traditional dollop of mayo.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
cauliflower – ungrated cauli will keep for weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge. Can be frozen but the texture isn’t as good when defrosted.
almond meal / fine salt / baharat spice / ground cumin / coriander / paprika / tomato paste / pine nuts – keep them in the pantry.
eggs – will keep in the fridge for weeks or use for another meal.
minced (ground) beef or lamb – freeze it.
flat leaf parsley – tends to be the most long lasting of the leafy herbs. Should keep for a few weeks in the fridge if wrapped in a plastic bag. For longer periods pop it in the freezer – it will wilt but will still be useable in this dish.
lemon – whole lemon will keep wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge for months.
Prepare Ahead
Yes! Just cook as per the recipe but keep the lemon and parsley separately. Will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks or can be frozen. The cauliflower flavour in the base will become stronger with time. To serve, warm in the oven for 5-10 minutes and top with parsley and lemon.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
I read through the recipe and thought I probably wouldn’t care for it, but then was blown away by the delicious flavors. I chose to use beef and tried the suggested spice alternative since I can’t find baharat. Topped it all with a few feta crumbles left over from last week’s menu. Jules, you make me so happy with all of your fabulous ideas.
ooh Meredith! You make me so happy with your kind words. So glad you enjoyed 🙂
YUM!!! This sounds wonderful. And I agree that Turkey is an amazing place. I’ve been looking at a bunch of keto websites, and one thing I’ve seen recommended is that to rice cauliflower, get rid of as much of the stems as possible and use the grating blade for the food processor. I am not a fan of pine nuts, so I think I would sub pistachios for them. Gotta make this one!
If you cook the cauli first and get rid of the mosture you get a much denser texture Susan – I prefer to keep it simple and lighter. And pistachios would be brilliant here.
I hope we get to visit Turkey again one day. I’d love to go back with a budget larger than my back packing allowed.
Made this for lunch today, and it was wonderful. I didn’t even think about cooking the cauliflower, and I used lamb and pistachios. The other thing I did was put a light sprinkling of shredded mozzarella over the top of the meat and nuts, to hold it together. This recipe is a definite keeper. For those who can’t find baharat, I made my own using the recipe from This Healthy Table: https://thishealthytable.com/blog/baharat-spice-mix/. It came out very nice, and the spices are all ones that are easy to find.
Fantastic Susan! Can imagine it was gorgeous with the pistachios – and thanks for the baharat link!
I forgot to mention that for us this pizza is 4 servings and, I actually really liked the cauliflower crust (I had a previous negative experience with such crusts). So thank you for a really good cauliflower crust.
Have you tried my zucchini pizza? It’s also really good 🙂
Not yet, but I could add it to my next go-round with cooking. The only problem is figuring out how to top it (tomato sauce is not something I would do) – something simple and interesting and flavorful. I’ll add it to my menu and then figure out how to top it.
One of my favourite ‘pizza bianca’ toppings is the salamino – spicy sausage and ricotta. That might work 🙂
Ooh!!!!! Sounds really good. I’ll try it, though I won’t use very spicy sausage because our stomachs can’t take it. Maybe the Spanish chorizo I’ve got stashed in the freezer would work. Thank you for a great idea!