Cauliflower has got to be the most amazingly versatile vegetable ever. Well one of them, I hate to play favourites. It makes an amazing bechamel, ridiculously creamy soup, a fried chicken substitute, and a great addition to salads. And this time it makes rice.

This is nothing new, it’s a fairly well established food trend, and I’ve been making this for a while. I’ve just forgotten to share it until now, which is weird because that’s what I do, right? But here it is better late than never, my quick and easy go to: cauliflower fried rice. This is my vegetarian version. It’s also great with a little finely chopped bacon or leftover chicken thrown into the pan at the start.

Low carb and full of fibre it’s really a winner when it comes to week night meals and the garlicky greens I serve it with are such a simple and yum addition.

Be warned, this is never going to get quite as crispy as normal fried rice, that’s why I like to crisp up the other veggies in the pan a little first to add good texture and colour. This actually works cold too and is a great recipe for work lunches.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 medium head of cauliflower roughly chopped into chunks

2 Tbs peanut oil

2 carrots, finely diced

2/4 cup spring onion, finely sliced

2 tsp ginger, minced

1/4 cup finely chopped coriander root and stem

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp dried chilli flakes

4 eggs, lightly whisked

1 tsp fish sauce

150g mushrooms

1/2 a red capsicum finely chopped

1 Tbs soy sauce

1 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 cup coriander leaves

Garlicky greens

1 tsp peanut or rice bran oil

3 baby bok choy, bottom removed so ‘leaves’ are spearate

1 bunch broccolini

2 cups snow peas, trimmed

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1/4 cup stock

2 tsp soy sauce

a few drops sesame oil

Directions

Make your cauliflower ‘rice’: Place cauliflower in the food processor and pulse until it looks like rice! Depending on the size of your processor you may need to do this in batches.

Make sure all your vegetables are chopped and ready to go before you start. If you do not have a large enough pan do the following steps in to batches. You don’t want to overcrowd your pan.

Add oil to the pan, once hot add carrots, 1/2 cup spring onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and coriander root. Stir fry for a few minutes on high heat, a little colour and crispiness is a good thing here, push to the side of the pan.

Mix together the fish sauce and eggs, add to the pan and allow to set. Chop the thin set omelette with a wooden spoon while it’s in the pan (if too didfficult you can just remove it and slice).

Add the mushrooms, cauliflower rice and capsicum and stir fry for another minute. Add soy sauce and turmeric and stir fry a further minute or two.

Remove from pan, top with remaining spring onion and coriander.

Wipe pan clean.

Garlicky greens: Put the pan back on the heat add oil and garlic stir fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant, add the greens and the stock and toss to coat. Add soy sauce and sesame oil and serve.

HH. x