If you’re invited round to mine for dinner any time soon, the chances are you will be served a dish containing cauliflower. Which sounds pretty random and decidedly unglamorous but bear with me. 

It all started when my mum came over from New Zealand to stay for a couple of weeks and give us a hand when Jenson was born. She’s super healthy anyway but had recently started a paleo diet and was appalled at the amount of chocolate and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes I was consuming. Having just had a baby it really wasn’t helpful at the time but the message stuck and I’m now making a conscious effort to take baby steps to improve my diet. And it involves a LOT of cauliflower consuming.

The main way I’m using said vegetable is to incorporate cauliflower rice into my diet as an alternative to rice. I’ve included a dead-easy Thai Green Curry recipe for two people below…the cauliflower rice complements Thai food perfectly because of the coconut oil used to cook the cauliflower. However, bite sized chunks of raw cauliflower also make an excellent snack to keep in the fridge and dip in to hummus or soup as a healthy alternative to bread.

When I first heard about cauliflower rice I thought it might be a bit complicated but it’s really the simplest accompaniment to make. The first time I gave it a whirl I had the genius idea of using a nutribullet to blitz the cauliflower as we don’t have a food processor (I know. I need to sort my life out). This was a mistake as I ended up with cauliflower puree. I’ve learnt my lesson and now just use a box grater – it gives the cauliflower such a rice-like consistency that when I served some up to my dad and explained how I’d made it, he asked me at which point I’d added the rice.

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Thai Green Curry and Cauliflower Rice ingredients
  • 400g Quorn chicken chunks
  • 400ml coconut milk
  • ¼ jar of Thai Green Curry paste (I rate the Blue Dragon paste)
  • Your choice of vegetables. If I’m feeling flush I go for M&S Rainbow vegetable stir fry or if the cupboards are bare I will just chuck in an onion and some carrots
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
For the Cauliflower Rice:
  • 1 cauliflower
  • 1 tbsp raw coconut oil

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{Method}

1. Heat the oil in a pan and lightly fry the quorn. Then add in the paste and cook for a couple more minutes.
2. Stir in the coconut milk, veg, salt and sugar.
3. Whilst that’s simmering make the rice by blitzing the cauliflower into tiny little pieces, either using a grater or a food processor. Then heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the cauliflower. Cook for five minutes.
4. Enjoy!
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I’ve also served up cauliflower rice with a tofu stir fry, tandoori fish (I sprinkled in some curry powder and turmeric into the rice), and with Caribbean pork (I added garlic, onion and Moroccan spices to the rice). My next venture is going to be broccoli … Lauren tells me Madeline Shaw’s monkfish curry with broccoli rice is immense.

And if you still aren’t convinced by cauliflower, my other culinary obsession is those Cadbury Pots Of Joy (I did say baby steps. Don’t tell my mum).

Have YOU tried cauliflower rice? Anyone else currently obsessed with cauliflower or any other food for that matter?