Cauliflower rice, low calorie and Not Boring!
Easy to make. Delicious and light. But full of nutrition. Cauliflower rice is a true feel good dish. Great as Lunch or as a side dish! And counts as 1 of your ‘5-a-day’
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
🥘 Main ingredients
- cauliflower
- coriander
- mint
- red onion
- garlic
- tomatoes (optional)
- hazelnuts
- Spices for spicy hazelnuts
💭 Tips and thoughts
This Cauliflower rice recipe is kept very minimalist, so you have the freedom to adjust it to your own liking. Personally for me cauliflower rice should include onion (or shallots) and garlic for flavour. Herbs for the extra aromas, and nuts for crunch, fibre, and flavour. But these can be easily changed for your preferred herbs and nuts. Think of;
- Basil, parsley, chives, tarragon
- Almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds.
- It’s really nice to include some toasted coriander and cumin seeds for extra aroma.
- Or to top your cauliflower rice with some pomegranate seeds for sweet acidity.
If you find the dish a bit too dry, add some of your favourite sauces, like;
- a spicy sauce
- Vegan aioli
- Or mix vegan greek yoghurt with curry powder, to make a light curry sauce.
Cooked cauliflower rice can last well in the fridge for about 4 days. I personally recommend to use it fresh though.
You can freeze cauliflower rice by freezing the grated cauliflower before cooking. Make sure you press all the water out before freezing, or even better dry it in the sun. And it is ready for baking or cooking whenever you are.
🥗 Serving ideas
For a light lunch Cauliflower rice is great on it’s own. But if you want to make it a full dinner dish, you could add vegan meatballs, vegetable terrines, or Braised aubergines.
Or just roast an Aubergine (eggplant) and top it with the cauliflower rice,… A delicious twist!
If you are interested in the other interesting cauliflower dishes; Check out these recipes;
All so delicious, and oh so completely different.
🍷 Wine pairing
The wine pairing for this dish very much depends how you serve it and what alternations on toppings you might have made.
Following the recipe I would tend to lean towards a Southern French white, such as a roussanne/Marsanne blend. A nice round white, with medium to full body, medium acidity, and not too much oak.
If you add pomegrante seeds, I might even suggest a nice light red, like a gamay. Or a fruity and floral rose.
For more refreshing flavours think of a Gruner Veltliner.
It surely is an interesting dish to pair your wine with. If you serve the cauliflower rice as an accompaniment to another main ingredients, you might want to adjust your pairing.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you feel stuck.
There are a million ways you can use cauliflower rice. Be creative and find your own favourites. I would love to hear about them. Add @haricoco1 to your instagram post, or comment down below.
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic crushed
- ½ of a head of cauliflower roughly cut in parts
- 1 bunch of mint leaves chopped
- 1 bunch of coriander leaves chopped
- 4 cherry tomatoes optional, for topping
- salt
- pepper
Spicy roasted hazelnuts
- 40 grams (⅓ cup) hazelnuts
- ½ teaspoon espelette pepper subs. with chili, aleppo or cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika powder
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- pinch of seasalt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 350F
- Grate the cauliflower parts in your food processor with the fine grater (you can do this by hand with a hand grater). Make sure your cauliflower is washed and well dried. If it is too wet it will go mushy.
- After grating the cauliflower make sure to spread it out on some kitchen towel, and try to get it is dry as possible
- Heat a little bit of olive oil (or other vegetable oil) in a pan and pan-fry the cauliflower rice with a pinch of salt, until it lightly starts browning.
- Add the herbs just at the end.
- Meanwhile Roast the hazelnuts in a hot oven for 10 minutes
- After 10 minutes, let them slightly cool down and place them in a towel. Rub with your hand the skin of the hazelnuts in the towel. they don't have to be completely skinned, partly is just fine.
- Add the olive oil, and spices to your hazelnuts, and roast them for anoth 10 – 15 minutes in the hot oven.
- Prepare (chop and crush) all the other ingredients while the cauliflower is drying and the hazelnuts are roasting.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan (or wok). Saute the chopped red onion until softened. not browned. Approx. 5 – 7 minutes
- Add the crushed garlic and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add all the cauliflower rice, stir occasionally. Leave to cook for Approx. 10 minutes. Until the cauliflower rice gets some light brown edges.
- Lastly, turn off the heat, and stir in all the chopped herbs. (optional to sprinkle a little lemon juice over for freshness and acidity)
- Top with the roughly chopped spicy hazelnuts before serving.
