Eech (Armenian bulgur)

I saw this dish being made on a TV cooking show. It looked delicious, so I decided to make the grain-free equivalent.

It goes by the odd name “eech,” an Armenian dish made with onions, garlic, tomatoes. parsley, bell pepper, olive oil, lemon . . . and bulgur wheat.

Everyone here, of course, objects to the inclusion of any seed of a grass plant in their lifestyle to avoid becoming diabetic, overweight, and having to massage your painful joints with rheumatoid arthritis or applying topical steroid creams for skin rashes. I therefore replaced the granular bulgur wheat with riced cauliflower. I believe it turned out to be little different in flavor from the original.

The number of servings yielded depends on how you use this dish. If used as a side-dish, I expect that it will yield 6 or so servings alongside, say, baked chicken or fish. As a main dish, it will yield 4 servings.

For ease of preparation, look for pre-riced cauliflower. You can reduce whole cauliflower to rice-sized pieces in your food chopper or processor, of course, but the convenience of pre-riced cauliflower can’t be beat. For extra pizzazz, I used Aleppo pepper to season the dish, a fragrant version of pepper with sundried tomato-like overtones. But conventional pepper with a dash of cayenne does well, also.

Serves 4-6

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 green onions, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
6 ounces tomato paste
2½ cups water
1 pound riced cauliflower
Salt and ground black or Aleppo pepper, to taste (I used 2 teaspoons of Aleppo pepper)
1 cup parsley, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon

In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat, then add onions, garlic, bell pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes until peppers softened, stirring occasionally.

Stir in tomato paste and water. Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Add cauliflower, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until cauliflower softened, stirring occasionally.

Stir in parsley. Serve topped with lemon juice squeezed over top.