• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Search for Imperfection | If I Can Do It, You Can Do It

It doesn't have to be perfect, the joy is in the imperfection

  • About
    • About Jennifer
    • Media Kit
    • Disclosure & Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Food & Drink
    • Recipes
    • Meal Plans
    • Drinks
    • Party Food
    • My Guest Post Recipes
  • Parenting
    • Pregnancy & Babies
    • Toddlers & Elementary
    • Feeding Your Littles
    • Working Parents
    • 10 Minutes (or Less) Hair Tutorials for Girls
  • Homemaking
    • Crafts & DIY
    • Party Planning
    • Money
    • Scentsy
  • Living
    • Random Musings
    • Semi-Green Living
    • Getting Outside
    • Holiday and Gift Guides
  • All Posts
  • TSFI Shop
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience, which means at no additional cost to you, I may earn a comission if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

February 29, 2016 by Jennifer Leave a Comment

Here is another amazing recipe from Arden at Real Food Real Life. You’ll never know you’re eating cauliflower instead of rice:

I’ve been reading recipes for quite a while for cauliflower “fried rice” and must say I’ve been favorably impressed with the reviews they typically get. While they are a real darling of the low-carb crowd (and similar, such as Trim Healthy Mama/THM), it’s an idea that seems like it would make good sense regardless — a good way to sneak some extra veggies into your diet — IF it actually tasted as good as the reviews suggest.

Well, I finally had the perfect motivation to try it out this past week — twice now, in fact — when I was gifted a bag of riced cauliflower. Now, just to be clear, from all accounts it is not that hard to shred raw cauliflower, either by hand on the big holes of your box grater or pulsed in your food processor.

But I’ll confess that neither of those techniques had yet enticed me to go the final step to try this out, so I say if you come across some cauliflower that is pre-shredded (or “riced”) and, indeed, looks somewhat the size of plump grains of rice, I encourage you to go for it. (It’s available in many grocery stores these days.) Totally makes this dish easy and, I must say, really delish. (I’ll even go so far as to say that we’ve had it twice now, as I mentioned, and neither time has it even occurred to my husband that it wasn’t actually rice.)

Interestingly, it’s also easier to actually cook since the cauliflower lacks the starchiness of actual cooked rice, so it’s much less likely to gum up your pan with sticky starchy gunk the way real rice can do. So far, very much a win-win.

Okay, how do you make this one-dish wonder? I think it’s important to approach it more as a technique than an actual recipe. I’ll list the ingredients as suggestions on a “per serving” basis to give some ideas for what you might want and how much of it based on however many you’re cooking for. Pick and choose by what you like and what you have on hand.

Also note that many fried rice recipes call for adding egg. Although I’ve eaten fried rice in restaurants with flat ribbons of cooked egg in it, I don’t really want fluffy bits of “scrambled egg” as some recipes call for and frankly don’t feel the need for it at all. If your preference runs toward egg, feel free to mix up one egg for each 2 or 3 servings and cook either with your rice or separately, adding into your dish at the end. For me it just becomes one more thing to prove the inadequacy of the surface on my non-stick skillet so I’m happy to leave it out.

TheBasicsFried rice is a dish that can pretty much adapt to whatever you have on hand for ingredients — one of its beauties, in fact. But assuming you’re going to start off with some intentionality about your ingredients, here’s what I’d suggest as the basics:

  • Chopped onion
  • Chopped celery
  • Sliced mushrooms
  • Green peas (frozen works fine)
  • Slivered or chopped colored bell pepper

Any of those could be considered expendable (although for me, personally, eliminating the onion borders on the “oh just why bother” but to each their own) and you could certainly add others:

  • Sliced scallions
  • Leftover bits of cooked greens like swiss chard
  • Fresh spinach, sliced into ribbons or chopped
  • Slivered or shredded carrots
  • Any other veggie your family likes, cut into smallish bits

For all the veggies, you’re really only looking for a couple of tablespoons of each per serving depending on how many of the ingredients you’re using — a bit more of each item if you’re only using 3 or 4, less if you’ve got 7 or 8 going in.

And, lastly, while this would work just fine as a vegetarian dish, we enjoy a bit of “meat” in it, using the term meat very loosely. A handful of leftover shrimp work well or a bit of chopped or shredded chicken. In fact, almost any cooked protein — somewhere between a couple of tablespoons and a quarter-cup (2 ounces) per serving — will work great. Today’s version used some leftover shreds of crock-pot pork shoulder from dinner the other night. A can of little shrimp (rinsed) would be tasty, too, if nothing fresh is presenting itself in the fridge.

I’m sure a wok would be lovely for this, but is unnecessary. It works absolutely fine in a skillet — nice big cast iron would be nice, but my ceramic “non-stick” is larger so that’s what I went for. This was just for the 2 or us, so I think if you’re cooking for more than 3 or 4 full-serving eaters you might end up needing to use two skillets or cook in batches. It cooks up quite quickly.

StirFryYou’ll need something to keep everything from sticking, so a non-stick cooking spray (my local supermarket has a wonderful inexpensive brand of organic canola oil, which eliminates the whole “all canola oil is GMO” thing) or a good drizzle around the pan of your oil of choice. Heat over medium high heat and then start adding your veggies — more “sturdy” ones first. So, onions, celery, and mushrooms to start. Let them cook a few moments, then add more delicate things like colored peppers, spinach, frozen green peas. Toss the cooked meat in to heat up, then add the riced cauliflower last. As you stir it about in the pan, sprinkle generously with soy sauce. If you have some sesame oil, drizzle a bit of that on it as well for flavor.

Taste and, as the favorite cooking expression goes, “adjust seasonings to taste” and voila, fried rice. Quick, easy, low-carb (should you care), good for you, and most of all — tasty!

Print
Cauliflower "Fried Rice"

Ingredients

  • For each serving, 1 to 3 tablespoons each ingredient (more if using fewer ingredients, less if using more):
  • BASICS —
  • Chopped onion
  • Chopped celery
  • Sliced mushrooms
  • Slivered or chopped colored bell pepper
  • OPTIONALS —
  • Sliced scallions
  • Leftover bits of cooked greens like swiss chard
  • Fresh spinach, sliced into ribbons or chopped
  • Slivered or shredded carrot
  • Any other veggie your family likes, cut into small bits
  • "MEAT" —
  • Approximately 1/4 cup (2 ounces) of cooked shrimp, leftover cooked chicken, shredded cooked pork roast, etc.
  • SHREDDED CAULIFLOWER
  • SOY SAUCE
  • SESAME OIL (Optional)
  • OIL FOR COOKING (or non-stick spray)

Instructions

  1. Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray or lightly coat with oil of your choice. Heat over medium-high heat.
  2. Add chopped veggies, "sturdier" ones first (such as celery, onions, and mushrooms) and cook for several minutes. Add additional vegetables and cooked protein.
  3. Stir frequently and continue to cook over medium-high to high heat. Drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil if you have it.
  4. Add cauliflower shreds, approximately 2/3 to 1 cup per serving. Drizzle again with soy sauce and sesame oil and stir fry for several minutes. Surprisingly you're not really trying to "cook" it so much as you are heating it up. You don't want it to get all mushy or it won't have the texture of fried rice!
  5. Serve with additional soy sauce if desired on the side.
3.1
https://thesearchforimperfection.com/cauliflower-fried-rice/

 

Related

Filed Under: Food & Drink, Recipes Tagged With: cauliflower, recipe, riced cauliflower, stir fry

Previous Post: « Dinner Menu Week Eight
Next Post: Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Veggies »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Welcome, I'm Jen! I'm here to offer realistic (sometimes semi-green) parenting, eating, and homemaking tips so that you can embrace life and let go of perfection. Because if I can do it, you can do it! Get to know more of Jen →

Free Appetizer eCookbook!

Easy Entertaining Appetizers eCookbook

Don’t Miss Out!

Bonus Access to Our Printables Library

Recent Posts

Lemon Pepper Arugula and Cashew Pesto

Lemon Pepper Arugula and Cashew Pesto

Orange Pale Ale Manhattan - Beer Cocktail

Orange Pale Ale Manhattan – Beer Cocktail

12 Awesome Mother's Day Gift Ideas

12 Mother’s Day Gift Ideas That She Will Actually Love

The Best Mini Crab Cake Recipe

The Best Mini Crab Cake Recipe Ever

Favorite Posts

Prosciutto Zucchini Pizza

Prosciutto Zucchini Pizza

Best Alternative to Plastic Kids Dishes

The Best Alternative to Plastic Kids Dishes

Homemade Snack Bags

Easy Homemade Reusable Snack Bags – A Simple DIY Tutorial

You're Invited But Please No Gifts

You’re Invited, But Please No Gifts – Ideas for a Gift Free Birthday Party

What to Buy at Trader Joe's Including Price

What to Buy From Trader Joe’s – 25 of the Best Items, Including Prices

20 Awesome Green Gift Guide for both Him and Her

Top 20 “Green” Gift Guide for Both Him and Her

Like Us On Facebook!

Like Us On Facebook!
Love Scentsy

Footer

Categories

Shop Scentsy

Cute Scentsy Mix and Match Warmers

More Ways to Follow!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Welcome, I'm Jen! I'm here to offer realistic (sometimes semi-green) parenting, eating, and homemaking tips so that you can embrace life and let go of perfection. Because if I can do it, you can do it! Get to know more of Jen →

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2022 · by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress