Mind-blowing Fried "Rice"

My sister sat down at the dinner table after putting a large helping of the "rice" on her plate. As she took a bite she said, "What is this?? It looks delicious!"

"Oooo!" Was what came out of her mouth next. I had her guess what she was eating and after multiple tries, she still couldn't guess. When I told her it was cauliflower she was amazed at my fantastic cooking and ingenious idea!! (haha no, I can't give myself all the props. I did get the idea from glancing through some food blogs focused on low-carb options.)

This recipe can be adjusted for any flavoring you like. If you just like the "rice" idea, maybe add just a bit of garlic, salt and pepper and call it good. If you like more of a Thai flavor, put in some lime juice, ginger, and garlic. The cauliflower + egg is a great starting point... then tune it to your style of meal you're paring it with.

In this case I pan cooked some Basa fish in lime juice, chili powder, Siracha, and cumin and ate it with broiled tomatoes and onions, fresh and delicious guacamole, and baked kidney beans. Yum!

Ingredients

Head of cauliflower
1 egg

4 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 of a red onion, diced
3-4 stalks of green onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 a green pepper (or red)
1-2 Tbsp of Siracha sauce
1-2 hot chili peppers for heat
Handful of cilantro, chopped

A couple pinches of salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1 big lime, juiced

Directions

1. Wash and remove the stalks from the cauliflower. Cut each little head into quarters and throw into a food processor. (You may have to do this in a couple batches.) Pulse the food processor about 10 times to get the cauliflower to little "grain-like" sizes.

2. Put all of the chopped cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute. This will keep the cauliflower from turning mushy during cooking.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat.

4. Toss in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant. (About 1-2 minutes)

5. Add half of the red onion and half of the green pepper to the pan and heat up slightly. (1-2 minutes). Turn up the heat slightly to medium-high (about 4:00 o'clock on the dial).

6. Break the egg into the bowl of cauliflower and stir until the egg is well incorporated.

7. When the pan is nice and hot, dump in the cauliflower and spread out in the pan and stir in the garlic, onion, and bell pepper.

8. Add the lime juice, Siracha sauce, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper and stir in well. The mixture will seem pretty wet at this point, but the egg will cook as it heats up in the pan and the cauliflower "grains" will separate.

9. Keep the heat up and keep stirring! This is going to "fry" the cauliflower and keep it from sticking and burning on the pan. If you want some browning on your cauliflower (which adds to the deliciousness!), let the mixture sit in the pan for a minute or two without stirring, then scrape up the nicely browned bits from the bottom and stir into the rest of the mixture.

10. Eventually add the rest of the onion, peppers, and chili peppers and turn the heat down to medium heat.

11. Right before serving, turn the heat down to medium low and toss in the cilantro and green onions.

12. Be amazed this is not any sort of carb-bomb rice, but a vegetable!!