All Hail The Cauliflower!

If Keto is the rock n roll of diets, then cauliflower is the rock star. It’s amazing how many uses it has and how versatile an ingredient it is. One of it’s most common uses is to replace rice in the low carb and Keto world. I’ve done quite a few recipes using cauliflower rice but no stand alone recipe teaching you how to make it. Since it’s the start of the new year I though I would add to my Keto essentials playlist by making this video. So enjoy!

The grater attachment

This is my preferred way to rice cauliflower. It’s the fastest and the easiest way. You can rice an entire head of cauliflower in less than 3 minutes. I personally think this results in the most ‘rice’ like consistency and is perfect for all my low carb rice dishes. This gives it the most ‘rice’ like texture of the lot as well.

I used this to make my Keto biryani, my chicken pulao, my cheesy pork fried rice and even my prawns risotto. When it comes to cooking the rice I would recommend to avoid using any water or liquid as it really makes the rice wet and soggy. That makes sense when you cook dishes like my Keto paella where you want to cook the rice in stock and impart flavour.

The regular blade

If your food processor is devoid of the grater attachment then you can use the regular chopping blade as well. Just throw in the cauliflower florets and blitz away. You will need to scrape down the sides and move things around a bit to ensure it’s all evenly ‘riced’. Though if I’m being honest, this is cauliflower cous cous. The consistency you get with this method is unlike rice and there are a few drawbacks here. It can clump up together while cooking or even while blitzing. I also found that when cauliflower is riced like this it definitely smells more. Like you get that cauliflower ‘smell’ which doesn’t happen when I use the grater attachment.

However, this is not to say that this method is without application. I always use this method for when I want to make staples like the cauliflower pizza crust or the cauliflower hamburger buns. This is also perfect for my cauliflower upma recipe which is a lovely Indian breakfast. But my use of this method is infrequent to say the least.

The regular grater

This is mainly for those who don’t have a food processor. You just grate the cauliflower. I personally do not enjoy this process. I find it too messy and too much work. It’s only really good if you need a small amount of cauliflower for something. Like you want to make a single hamburger bun or maybe just a small pizza base. But I guess you got to do what you got to do and if you have no food processor then this is your go to. Of course if you have a box grater that is better because it holds everything inside.

I always think it’s better to buy a cauliflower and to make the rice yourself than to buy ready packs from the supermarket.

Waste Nothing!

I like to encourage people to minimize their food waste. Everything that can be eaten, should be. The green leaves on the cauliflower (if they are in good condition) can be stir fried with some butter and garlic and eaten as a side. The main thick part of the cauliflower stalk can also be used. I like to cut it up into little squares and boil them and then use them as fake potatoes. I actually did this in my Keto Poha recipe which is an Indian breakfast dish.

For those who don’t like, or can’t eat cauliflower, you can try this with broccoli or you can even use cabbage for rice. Just remember that cooking times will vary.

Keto cauliflower rice recipes

Now there are tons of dishes you can make with cauliflower rice. A lot of them will be a side dish to your main course. You have your basic cauliflower rice cooked in a skillet with salt and pepper that forms your basic rice recipe. This is best had with curries or any dish with a sauce.

But there is much more flavor we can add to enhance the taste. The basic butter, cheese, olive oil and other Keto fats will add more punch to it. But a great way to mask the cauliflower flavor itself is fresh herbs. If you are making Asian food green onions are great, cilantro or coriander when you making it to go with curry. At that time cook it with ghee.

Condiments like soy sauce or coconut aminos are great when you want to make it as a side for say a Keto Thai curry recipe. I also like to use garlic and chicken fat to flavour my rice. A sprinkle of lime juice works wonders too. You can also add other veggies to it like carrots, peas, chopped green beans and stir fry them all in a pan. I’d also recommend sesame oil to add extra flavor to it.

Use this rice for delicious Keto rice bowl recipes. I’ve got a delicious breakfast bowl which has some avocados, bacon and egg. Perhaps you can make my one pot meal of Keto pork fried rice. You can make my mushroom risotto or my chorizo pulao using cauli rice.

Nutrition Info

There are no macros as such, you just weigh the raw cauliflower and the amount of butter/oil you use and add that to your app. Of course 100g of cauliflower has only 25 calories.

It has a total of 5 grams of carbs from which 2 grams are fiber. That makes it only 3g net carbs for 100g of raw cauliflower. That’s pretty good if you ask me. Perfect for the keto diet.

Cauliflower is also just good for your health so eat it.

I mean 1 serving of cauliflower has 100% of your daily requirement of vitamin C.