Thursday 28 May 2015

Cauliflower Fried "Rice"


Do you think this is ridiculous? Grating cauliflower into small bits and pretending it is rice? Fake rice. At least it is safe and edible unlike the plastic fake rice that has been making it's rounds on social media recently.



Cauliflower is now the in-thing as a low carb substitute for rice, mash and also pizza crust. I was curious of course and made my first cauliflower rice here on the rare occasion when I found fresh cauliflower at the supermarket.




I find it difficult to buy fresh cauliflower because by the time I get to them during the weekends, they already have brown spots on them and look quite yucky.


So one evening at Tesco, I spotted an almost pristine head of cauliflower and I immediately grabbed it. Time for another round of fake rice!

What I did was wash the cauliflower, drained it and then grated the florets using a grater like this :


I avoided the stems as they come off in bigger pieces, unlike the florets which once grated, resembled fine rice grains. Once I was done, I simply went about cooking it as if it were rice.



The ingredients I used are onions, mushrooms, bacon, spring onions and coriander. If you don't like coriander, don't torture yourself, just leave it out. I find the addition of spring onions and coriander very fragrant. I enjoyed the cauliflower fried rice very much and if I can have my "fried rice" with less carbs, why not?











Cauliflower Fried Rice
Recipe source : Adapted from Nom Nom Paleo (page 161)

Ingredients :

- Cauliflower, grated into fine grains
- bacon, cut into small pieces
- onion, diced
- fresh shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
- fish sauce
- omelette, cut into strips
- spring onions, finely sliced
- coriander, finely chopped

Method :


1. Heat oil in wok and fry bacon until crispy.

2. Remove the bacon and set aside.
3. Using the same oil, saute onions until slightly browned and fragrant.
4. Add mushrooms and fry until they soften.
5. Add grated cauliflower and stir fry briskly.
5. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes on low heat until it is tender but not too soft (taste to test!)
6. Add fish sauce, spring onions, coriander, sliced omelette. and bacon. Mix everything together and serve.



This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #23 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

50 comments:

  1. A bowl of fried rice for my lunch later, pls, hahaha...

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  2. Oh yes, of course I remembered your cauliflower fried rice.. You cooked before, and I was impressed.. Then I said mom made cauliflower mash before, we thought it was mashed potatoes, but it was made with only cauliflower.. Oohh I see egg, I see bacon, nothing can go wrong if got bacon inside.. It really looks like rice you know..

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    1. Louiz, I tried cauliflower mash and I like it! But the photos did not turn out well, so not posting.

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  3. Am not really a fan of clauliflower. Been eating that when I was young nearly daily. jelak liao. Hmm...maybe can replace with brocoli :)

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    1. If use broccoli then you have green rice pulak.

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  4. Tak apalah Phong Hong. Will stick to rice. Cepat dimasak, less work! Hahaha...

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    1. Betul tu, Mama. Jangan bersusah payah :)

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  5. I have always wanted to try this! This looks amazing! :)

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  6. When I looked at the first pic, I actually thought it was fried rice. However, I'm weary of doing any grating especially with a box cutter. Even when I'm grating something large (like sengkuang), I'm so afraid when it gets to the end....and the cauliflower florets are quite small to hold on to (I had a horrible experience once). The only things I dare grate are those which are long like carrots and radish...and I ditch them before it comes to the end!

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    1. I had a bad cut once using a microplane. These things are very sharp!

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  7. Remember seeing u doing this last year! Back then I wanted to try it haha but procrastinated until now also not yet.... :P

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    1. Yen, no need lah. So troublesome. Go for real rice hee..hee..

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  8. I never buy cauliflower here, so bland, tasteless. Dunno the ones in KL but those here must have turned black and the sellers keep cutting the outside layer away...again and again till they're sold. I loved cauliflower in the UK - just boil and eat, so so so fragrant and so sweet...and cauliflower cheese, I miss that!!! Slurpssss!!!!

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    1. Same thing here, at the chap fan shops you can see that their cauliflower has been trimmed.

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  9. OMG! You are so brilliant with ideas inside the kitchen. I swear that cauliflower is my top favourite vegetable at all the mixed rice shops. They are so crunchy and healthy. I love this idea making into fried rice but who will cook this for me?

    *hint *hint

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  10. I would love to eat this type of fake fried rice but too lazy to grate the cauliflower. Ha ha..for lazy me, I would just take the easy way to cook my cauliflower. You are so hardworking to grate them.

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    1. Nancy, I might not want to do this again hah..hah...

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  11. I've read about it... and so now PH has given me the recipe to try if I want to opt out from rice. Hihihi

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    1. You tak payah eat fake rice lah. All the real rice you eat will be burnt up during your marathons :)

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  12. I have read about such a fake rice but I have never tried it. It must be healthier than the white one usually sold in markets!

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    1. Ola, I suppose so since cauliflower is lower in carbs. But so much work!

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  13. oh, i heard about this cauliflower rice but i never expected that it's cauliflower grated into "rice" instead of the real rice, hahahaha.. probably because of the previous hit tomato rice, i thought this is just some similar concepts with a little twist.. wow, interesting leh, and from the photos the cauliflower "rice" really look like rice.. i am impressed :p

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    1. It's not bad, quite tasty. Depends on the ingredients that you add in to fry this "rice".

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  14. i wonder how it tastes like huh?? errr, i am fine with broccoli but i am really not a fans of cauliflower leh.. probably grating the cauliflower would taste nice, and textured like rice when cooked?? hmmm, but from your photos, i find this dish interesting, furthermore you have eggs and bacon (YES!! BACON!!) in the fried "rice" woh, sure taste nice lor.. at least better than the fake rice huh?? now you get me wonder what chemicals were used to make the fake rice~~

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    1. Doesn't taste like rice lah hah..hah.. just quite similar. If you want, you go to The Salad Bar at Damansara Utama. Theirs is quite well done and very nice.

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  15. Hi Phong Hong, I was attracted to your earlier post on this and have been cooking this quite often but haven't tried one with so much 'ho liao'. Next time I will add all these ingredients. Fully agree that spring onions makes a difference to flavour and appearance for this 'fried rice'. I shared your recipe with a friend who keeps complaining that her waistline has expanded and with my sis who said that her family refused to eat cauliflower florets. Now they are eating cauliflower as fried rice too, hehehe! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! Glad to hear that hee..hee..

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  16. Hi Phong Hong, this is my type of dish. I have bookmarked it for lunch.

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  17. Hi Phong Hong, I was thinking the other day, what to do with my cauliflower. Now I know. :D Thanks for sharing this healthy recipe.

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  18. Hi Phong Hong,
    Hee .. hee .. ask me to grate cauliflower ...lazy leh. I've ever asked my big kids if I use cauliflower to make like rice grain and make fried rice, they said 'pls use real rice grains' ... hee .. hee. Maybe one day I shall try and don't disclose to them. See if they can tell the difference.

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    1. hah..hah...Karen, I think they can tell the difference unless if you add some real rice into it :)

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  19. Doesn't seems strange to me... looks delicious and healthy!

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  20. No, I never want to try this, if I cook cauliflower, I will just cut them into pieces and cook them as it is. Cauliflower pieces and grated cauliflower, same one lah. No need spend more effort to make it look like rice XD .

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  21. Yes, I heard and read it in FB too... Healthy dish, this one is... PH... Cauliflower is not bad... I like to blanch it and cook it with mushrooms... Sweet...

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    1. That's a better way of eating it. Less work hee..hee...

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  22. I'm curious how it'll taste like. Must try

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  23. You could have fooled me, sure looks like rice in your photo. I am with RG on this. Will just eat the cauliflower as it is and not bother to make it into rice, hehehe.

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  24. hi phong hong, i remember your earlier post on this ! i hv been keeping in mind to make this kind of fake rice some day..

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    1. Lena, grating the cauliflower is quite troublesome. No need lah, you are so thin liao hee..hee...

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  25. Hi Phong Hong,
    I love cauliflower and this looks good! I have never eaten it as "fried rice" before, definitely healthier with less carbo!
    Sorry for visiting so late, have not been well lately, and have been slacking in my blog visits! I have the "3 in 1", sore-throat, flu and the irritating cough! :(
    Thanks for linking with CYB!

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    1. Don't worry, Joyce. I am so late in replying the comments. Hope you get well soon!

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