Vegan Cauliflower Fried Rice

A quick easy nutritious low carb meal.

If you can make cauliflower crust pizza, why not cauliflower fried rice?! Here is my low- carb, gluten-free, clean-eating recipe which helps pack in your five-alive (phew! what a mouthful!). Low calorie & packed with vegetables too! Great for folk on low carb & paleo diets, gluten-intolerant & fellows such as diabetics (& myself) wanting to have more stable blood sugar levels.

Low cal, Vegan, gluten-free, paleo & tasty!

What I love about this dish is that you can also easily amend the recipe to use up those vegetables lurking in your vegetable drawer, so this recipe is economical & avoids waste too. (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would approve!)

You actually can’t taste the cauliflower, yet do not miss the rice either (I prefer it to traditional fried rice now). It is very quick to prepare (maybe 22 mins all in) & so fantastic after a busy day at work or post gym when you NEED FOOD! It is also really tasty & savoury. What gives it the savoury flavour? Tamari & my recent discovery, nutritional yeast.

What is nutritional yeast?

Nutritional yeast is a vegan savory flavouring (& can be used to replace cheese) & is packed with vitamin B12

Nutritional yeast is deactivated yeast. It is not widely available even in high street health food chains, but readily available at Amazon. It is packed with B vitamins, especially vitamin B12, which is missing from most plant foods, making it a great supplement for vegans. Furthermore, it is also rich in folic acid, selenium, zinc & protein & low calorie, whilst being free from sugars & preservatives. It’s nutty savoury ‘umami’ flavour is used to make this vegan fried rice really stand out. It can also be used as a cheese substitute; see my cauliflower pizza crust recipe elsewhere in this blog!

No grains in me!

Unlike traditional fried rice it is not heavy on the belly. For added fun I have made this vegan, but for meat-eaters out there (& for my mum’s palate), you can add 2 rashers of bacon diced up & 2 beaten eggs to the recipe (bacon at the beginning with the carrots, leeks & garlic) & eggs a few mins before the end of cooking. (I will indicate in the recipe where!)

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 10-12 mins

Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp rapeseed oil or coconut oil

1/2 a large head of cauliflower (400g)

100g red cabbage, thinly sliced

1 medium leek, sliced finely into small pieces

2 small carrots, peeled & diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 pepper (red or yellow), diced

60g frozen peas

1 tbsp tamari

4 tbsp nutritional yeast

2 spring onions, sliced diagonally, reserve slices to garnish

salt & pepper

To garnish: a handful of chopped spring onions & 1 tbsp ground flaxseed (adds extra omega-3s, fibre, magnesium)

(For non-vegans, if you wish: 2 eggs, beaten, 2 rashers of bacon diced)

Method:

Make the cauliflower rice. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower & cut into rough florets. Put into a blender or food processor & blitz to form small rice-like grains (see below).

In a deep pan or wok, on a medium heat, heat 1 tbsp coconut oil or rapeseed oil. Add the crushed garlic, chopped leeks, diced carrots & brown for about 3 mins. (For meat-eaters, add the bacon now).

Then add the chopped red cabbage & cauliflower rice. Then the tamari. Gently fry for another 3 mins.

Then add the frozen peas & chopped pepper. Fry for another 2 mins before adding in the nutritional yeast. Mix well. (for non-vegans wanting to add egg, add it in here!). Fry for another 3 mins, season with salt & plenty of ground black pepper. Serve.

Garnish with sliced spring onions & some ground flaxseed.