Here's a fun little recipe I got to cook last night! I found a great Cauliflower Fried Rice recipe online and changed it a little to suit my needs - and it was the first time I've worked with Cauliflower in this way.
One of the things about this meal is being that it's an Asian style - the cooking happens very quickly. That being said - I was moving around like a mad man and didn't get pictures of the process, but I will explain what I did.
This recipe I break down into 3 servings, so here's everything you need and the nutrition information of the recipe.
Where it says "5 cups Cauliflower" - it's just one whole head of Cauliflower, minus the leaves and the main stalk.
Here's a picture of my favorite ingredients from the list that I keep in my cupboard for anytime I do Asian styled recipes - and all were used in this recipe.
I prefer Swerve Sweetener but I was out - so I grabbed the Harris Teeter brand in a pinch.
Sesame Oil (only in bulk on Amazon - you're local store should have it.)
If you want to make this today - go to the Asian isle of your local grocery store or to an Asian grocery store and you should be able to find all of this (except Swerve or Erythitol).
Now for cooking.. I use two pans - a deep frying pan for the sauce/beef and a Wok for the fried rice. You wanna get the Wok hot as hell before you even begin cooking so put it on high heat first before you start prepping and let it just heat up. You want the "Flavor of the Wok" and the Wok cooking everything without adding oil and such. (Really stove tops can't get Wok's hot enough to really work the way they are supposed to - but they do fine for this home style cooking. If you ever have the opportunity to use a Large Wok on like a propane heated element - you'll really enjoy that!)
By this time I assume you have both pans on high and warming.
Now, I cook these at the same time - but I'm trained in a kitchen. If you aren't feel free to make these one at a time - as I make them to start my meals on the following day, it doesn't matter to me on what order I make them in, as they get tupper wared anyway.
Beef Tips First.
Cut the Beef into small tips (unless you buy them already ready for pan frying).
You wanna throw them in the frying pan (I like to put a spritz of Pam Olive or Butter oil down before doing so) and sear them very quickly.. (I like my meat rare so I'm talking 1 minute to 2 max)
As soon as they are browning to your liking remove from heat on a plate and let them rest.
In the same frying pan drop to medium/high and put the following in: 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1tbls rice vinegar, 2tbls Swerve (or other sweetener), 1tbls Minced garlic, 1tsp minced ginger
Begin stirring.
At this time if I got a lot of evaporation I'll usually add a little more water/soy sauce by sight.
In a separate glass, mix 1/4 cup water and your 1tsp of Cream of Tartar (Xantham Gum is actually preferred for sauce thickening, but I have never found it at my local grocery stores)
Once that's mixed and looking milky, drop the heat to low and as it starts to lower throw in the Water/tartar mixture and wisk with the rest of the sauce, keep on low as it thickens up.
Once it's thick to your liking, throw in the beef tips, stir and get it all good and lathered up, and cover. Leave on low for 5-10 minutes depending on how rare you like your Beef.
Excuse the mess - I was wisking hella hard and my stove tops always cause everything to run to the sides of the pan lol.
This is done, you can remove to cool or if you cooked at the same time, serve!
Cauliflower Bacon Fried Rice
First of all, you wanna prepare the Cauliflower by removing the main stalk and greens, then tearing the cauliflower into small leafettes. Grab your Food Processor and throw the cauliflower in it as you shred it to little bitty pieces!
Once you've done that to the whole thing you wanna put it on a plate that has a paper towel on it, then put a paper towel on top and start pressing it with your body weight - you want to dry the cauliflower out as much as possible. There are ways to do a quick bake of it to crisp it up - but I'm ok with hand drying it like this.
Prep 3-4 green onions(scallions) up about half way from the bulb.
Take 3 slices of bacon and slice thin into tiny strips.
Your prep is done!
Now - Throw the bacon into the Wok and start crisping it up - I like mine crispy on the almost burnt side - but cook to your liking, then remove the bacon onto paper towels (leave the fat in the pan).
Pour the Cauliflower straight into the pan on top of the bacon fat, add your 2tbls of Soy sauce and mix it all up as it fries. Once mixed, push off to the side of the wok and on the empty space drop your Scallions, 2tbls Sesame oil, 1tsp minced garlic, 1tsp minced ginger let that get warm for 30 secs - 1 minute then mix it all together. Add heavy black pepper here if you like or salt to your liking, but mix well for about a minute then push it off to the side again.
In the empty area drop 2 large eggs, I wisk it for a quick scramble, you can do whatever you like.. and then mix it in with the rice mixture, once mixed in drop the bacon on top and mix some more as you remove from heat!
All Done!
Looks strange but tastes amazing. My cleaning lady is quoted as saying "This is better than rice at a Japanese restaurant"
You can serve as you wish now - or do what I did and break it up into 3rds in tupper ware to eat for dinner this Monday-Wednesday.
Feel free to add chives or Sesame seeds at this point for aesthetics and taste; I put the extra sauce in the pan too to add to the overall taste of everything. I'll be eating my first round of this for dinner tonight and I can't wait.
Here's to much more usage of Cauliflower - it's fun, simple, and fairly quick to mess with. I felt it would be daunting but really it wasn't bad at all.
And for a 500 or so calorie meal with 13g net carbs - it's not too shabby especially because my lunch will be some fat bombing (or i'll lunch this and have a night full of hot wings!)
Keep Calm, Keto On.
See you at the Bottom
-Freeze
Recipe was inspired by Ruled.me's Cauliflower Rice.
