Cauliflower Rice

Have you heard of cauliflower rice but never really known what all the fuss was about?

Well… if a low carb, low calorie, versatile and tasty alternative to normal rice sounds appealing to you then read on.  There is nothing new about cauli rice, its been around forever but with the rising popularity of paleo and low carbohydrate eating more people are talking about this versatile side dish.

There are several ways that you can cook cauliflower rice – fry it, steam it, microwave it.  The trick is not to over cook the cauliflower, you want it al dente, so that you maintain the rice like texture. 

Cauliflower rice is very versatile.  You can keep it plain or season it to suit any cuisine.  I like to add a little bit of garlic, salt, cracked pepper and fresh parsley to mine when I am cooking.  I find that this flavour combination adds enough interest to the cauli rice so that it isn’t bland but not enough to compete with the main dish.

INGREDIENTS

Cauliflower – 1 whole to serve 4 people

METHOD

Cut the cauliflower up into workable pieces.

If you have a food processor, blitz the cauliflower on pulse mode 2 or 3 times.  You want to maintain a rice size piece, not mush!

If you don’t have a food processor use a cheese grater and grate the cauliflower into rice size pieces.  This is certainly messier than using a food processor but still very effective.

FRYING – Use 1-2 tbs of oil of your choice (personally I love coconut oil with cauliflower), once hot add your riced cauliflower to the pan.  It won’t take long to cook, only a few minutes.  Season to taste.  Serve immediately to reduce the risk of overcooking.  This is my favourite way of cooking cauli rice.

MICROWAVE – Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe dish, cover with lid or cling wrap.  Add 1 tsp of water and microwave on high for 2 – 3 minutes.  Add any seasoning to taste and allow to stand for a further 2 minutes before serving.  Remember you are wanting cauli rice not cauli mash so be careful not to overcook.  Adjust your times to suit your quantity of cauliflower.

STEAMING – Place the riced cauliflower and any seasoning onto a steaming tray. Make sure the steamer holes are small so that the cauli doesn’t fall through and that there is sufficient gaps in the cauliflower to allow the steam to permeate.  Steam for 5 – 7 minutes, checking after 5 minutes.  This method has the greatest risk of soggy rice so vigilence is necessary to ensure that your rice is al dente.

A note from Gracious Goodness :

It is easy to dress up your cauliflower rice if you want to give it some pizzaz. Some ideas to consider… finely chopping an onion and cooking it with the cauli rice, add garlic, add in some fresh herbs (parsley and chives are particularly nice), add tumeric to make yellow rice, add cumin or curry powder to the cauli rice for an indian flavour, add a squeeze of lemon juice for some zing.

Experiment with a cauli-sotto, a cauliflower rissotto, think of the ingredients you would normally add to a risotto and just substitute the normal rice with cauli rice.  Just remember you will need to substantially reduce the amount of liquid in the cauli-sotto as the cauli doesn’t need to absorb much liquid as it cooks.

Sandra xo