Cauliflower "rice"- why didn't I do this sooner????

[haleybop1]

Just made the rice for dinner. It was fabulous. Even DS who doesn't like cauliflower didn't realize it was that and not rice. Yummy

[quiet_observer]

Originally Posted by ozdancer

it's great. I actually have a whole head of riced cauliflower in the freezer ATM (in both individual portions & family size bags). Figured this was a quick meal in the making as I like to rice my cauliflower by hand the food processor gets it more liquid than I like .

I do the same thing except i'll make probably three or four freezer bags out of one head to take to work for lunch or for sides. It works quite well. Not quite as good as fresh, but who has the time to go shopping for cauliflower every few days .

[SmileySue]

For those of you that freeze your "riced" cauliflower - does it get mushy when it thaws? That's what's happened to me when I freeze it.

[IWilldoit4me]

LOVE riced Cauli!! I use it to make "white rice"
"fried rice"
and my FAV "spanish rice"
I have even used it to make sushi rice! yum!!!
I have used my food processor or just my hand chopper thingy (pampered chef)
works either way...tonight I tryiing cleochatras "tortillas" to make enchiladas...I didnt want to buy the low carb tortillas, I try to steer clear of packaged LC foods

[IWilldoit4me]

just a note, my picky husband ate some one night for dinner had no idea until I told him (after he ate it!) that it wasn't rice! lol he liked it except for the onions LOL he even brought it up in conversation to friends at a party and said it was good

[chasemama23]

I'm going to try this tomorrow night with a steak stir fry. I can't wait!

[Jonahsafta]

How about using a potato ricer?????????? anyone tried this??

[chasemama23]

I made this tonight with a stir fry, I thought it was great! Of course my husband said "whats wrong with this rice?" He has a superhuman way of detecting things that are actually healthy for him and then not eating them. I told him I would be mad at him if he didn't at least eat some. He ended up eating most of it after that!

[ga_kimmie]

I use:

Head of cauliflower "riced" with the shredding blade on my food processor
3 green onions or so
3 tbsp minced garlic
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil

I heat 1/2 cup oil in a pan, toss in the cauliflower and other ingredients. Cook on medium-high and stir so it gets evenly browned. Cook until it starts to get "fried" brown but not until it gets mushy. Scramble eggs in another pan and mix with rice when done. Mix in 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce. Toss in any pork or beef or shrimp (already cooked) that you'd like. I LOVE it and eat it as often as I can stand to consume that much sodium.

[soon2bskinny]

OMG!!!! after reading this thread i think i'll be buying out the entire stock of cauliflower at the store tomorrow lol!! spanish "rice" and "hash browns"?!!! ohhhh my!! i think i need to make sure no drool hits the key board!

question! kind of stupid, i know! i have a magic bullet set still sitting in the box somewhere i have yet to open...does anyone know if i could use that to "chop" the the cauli finely enough or would that not work??? if not i'll just do the cheese grater thing i guess but i would prefer less work so i can freeze a bunch!

[Beezle]

Originally Posted by soon2bskinny

OMG!!!! after reading this thread i think i'll be buying out the entire stock of cauliflower at the store tomorrow lol!! spanish "rice" and "hash browns"?!!! ohhhh my!! i think i need to make sure no drool hits the key board!

question! kind of stupid, i know! i have a magic bullet set still sitting in the box somewhere i have yet to open...does anyone know if i could use that to "chop" the the cauli finely enough or would that not work??? if not i'll just do the cheese grater thing i guess but i would prefer less work so i can freeze a bunch!

I don't have a magic bullet, but after making cauliflower rice with a grater, a garlic press, and with just chopping with a knife, I'll make an educated guess.

I think there is something that happens to the cauliflower when you press it through something. It might be the holes in the grater, the holes in the garlic press or the holes in the food processor, but they all force the cauliflower thorough a tiny hole. This process makes the tiny little buds in the cauliflower "flower" separate.

Chopping didn't work as well for me. I spent a good 20 min chopping and the BF didn't like it. Next time I made the same recipe only with the garlic press and he loved it. Going to guess that the magic bullet is more like chopping then grating. It might be a small difference, but if you're a person who appreciates texture in food, you'll notice.

I highly recommend a garlic press. It takes 5 mins to rice half a bag with it, and it costs about 5 bucks. Don't expect all the cauliflower to go through the holes though. The holes get clogged by the fibrous coating around the cauliflower stems. Mine kind of mushes around the masher plunger, but it's still "riced" and it still works. Or you can be fancy and get a food processor. I'm jealous of all of you who have those.

[Jonahsafta]

I cant believe I havent done this before!! Tonight I served l/c tacos with spanish "rice" it was a hit....next hamburger "rice " casserole then stir fry....
I would NEVER have guessed..My husband is taking the "spanish rice" and combining it with the leftover taco beef and eggs for his breakfast!

[Neecy08]

Originally Posted by Jonahsafta

I cant believe I havent done this before!! Tonight I served l/c tacos with spanish "rice" it was a hit....next hamburger "rice " casserole then stir fry....
I would NEVER have guessed..My husband is taking the "spanish rice" and combining it with the leftover taco beef and eggs for his breakfast!

Sounds yummy! What is your spanish rice recipe???

[metqa]

My freshly chopped cauli-rice didn't stand up to being frozen, but then I didnt blanch it first.

I've used riced cauliflower to accompany curry.

I've also used it to make parmesian risotto. It was delicious.

I use a one cup mini chopper with an S-blade and whip it up chop-chop in a minute or two, scrap out any stuck bits with a silocon spatula, then rinse the cup in water, and it's clean. No big mess, except for bits that fly away as I'm dumping it out. I made stir fry shrimp once and fed it to BF, he asked about the "rice" and I told him it was a new kind of rice . . .cruciferous rice, that it's very rare. Since I was using stuff like Quinoa, and other things he couldn't pronounce, he didn't question it and asked for seconds. . . .He "doesn't like" cauliflower he says . . .

[MsWoods]

Well, I already grated mine and stuck it in the freezer, didnt' blanch it, about an hour ago. Dunno when I'll use it but hopefully it won't be too bad.

[joey77joey]

cauliflower rice is epic!! I remember discovering it last time I was on the diet. It's such a good replacement..

here's another one that I really enjoyed.

Get a pancake pan. whisk up two eggs then pour it into the pan, creating a flat pancake of just egg. let it cook till it starts to go golden. then put it onto a plate, roll it up into a pancake and cut it into width ways into little rolls. then when you unravel each roll you have a cool replacement for spaghetti

[joey77joey]

...or noodles. in fact I think it works better as noodles (just cut the rolls thinner..)

[Erica L. Butler]

I use it for Jambalaya.

[DaffodilSoup]

I love cauliflower fried rice! I make mine with the riced cauliflower, shrimp, chicken, sausage, onion, garlic, carrot pieces, and broccoli florets. Tastes just like fried rice I used to order before I started LC!

[SecondTimeAround]

Subscribing.

Keep the great recipes coming! Can't wait for the Spanish rice one!

[metqa]

Hey! has anyone tried using caulirice to make Sarma or Dolma? (stuffed grape leaves?) My Turkish friends had a cooking lesson and it was delicious, but mostly rice.

[kbrookn]

Linda has a Mexican Rice. Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes. I've never tried it, but I love her Fried Rice.

[ozdancer]

Metqa I'm sure riced cauliflower would be fine to substitue for most rice dishes - maybe not risotto? You can only try it and see I guess.

[vli1127]

Originally Posted by Jonahsafta

How about using a potato ricer?????????? anyone tried this??

I bought a potatoe ricer just for this. It didn't work for me because the cauli was too hard even though it was partially cooked. I haven't tried again, but see how a cheese grater or food processer would work better.

[metqa]

Originally Posted by ozdancer

Metqa I'm sure riced cauliflower would be fine to substitue for most rice dishes - maybe not risotto? You can only try it and see I guess.

Oh it worked great for risotto, but that was easy cause it was a stove top dish.

I'm trying to figure out how it would work in a case where the portion of "rice" is prepared prior to cooking. .. What I mean is the rice based stuffing is rolled up in the leaves and then cooked in water, it absorbs water and expands within the wrapping. So I' don't know how much cauliflower to use instead, since caulirice it doesn't expand, it actually deflates a little. The rice really is filler since the flavor comes from all the spices.

I guess what I really need to know is how much rice 1 cup turns into when it's cooked and then use that much cauliflower plus extra for shrinkage? What do you think?

[SecondTimeAround]

Originally Posted by metqa

I guess what I really need to know is how much rice 1 cup turns into when it's cooked and then use that much cauliflower plus extra for shrinkage? What do you think?

I don't know if this will help, but I buy a one-pound bag of frozen cauliflower and it usually makes two cups of riced cauli plus just a little bit of extra.

[metqa]

Originally Posted by SecondTimeAround

I don't know if this will help, but I buy a one-pound bag of frozen cauliflower and it usually makes two cups of riced cauli plus just a little bit of extra.

That helps a lot, since I just looked up about rice and one cup makes about two cups, so a pound bag seems like what I would need.

Thanks a bunch everyone! I wanna try to make this. Its so exotic, and I loved the flavors, but to make it Low carb would be so funny and fun!

[Jonahsafta]

my spanish rice was cauli-rice w/ 3 pepper salsa added..simple but luscious

[Jonahsafta]

Opps..II "riced " the cauliflower then froze it without blanching.....what happens if you dont blanch?

[metqa]

Originally Posted by Jonahsafta

Opps..II "riced " the cauliflower then froze it without blanching.....what happens if you dont blanch?

mine turned a funny gray color and weeped much more water than it would have if fresh. it was a bit more mushy, but I think If fried until the extra moisture went away it would work okay. It was not as "fluffy" as fresh though.