Firstly, I’m not a great lover of rice, brown, fried white or otherwise. But discovering cauliflower rice has been a revelation to me. This is my take on paella using cauliflower which is a superbly healthy and much overlooked vegetable. There’s more to the humble cauli than just drowning it in cheese sauce on your Sunday dinner. Believe it or not, it’s particularly good at helping you shift fat from your thighs because it contains something called indo-3 carbinols! And if you don’t fancy this dish, there’s a recipe for Moroccan cauliflower rice on this site too. Give either or both a go. I promise you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!
RICE SURPRISE: Cauliflower paella
Ingredients
- Cauliflower
- Spring onion, chopped.
- Two garlic cloves, crushed
- Two banana shallots, chopped
- fresh red chilli, to your taste. (I use half a one, chopped and deseeded)
- King prawns
- Two salmon fillets, skin on or off, chopped into chunks
- Coconut oil
- Teaspoon of paprika
- Teaspoon of turmeric
- Lime
- Pinch of Chilli flakes
- Sea salt
- Fresh chopped parsley, either kind
Method
- Firstly marinade the prawns in fresh lime juice, chilli flakes and a pinch of sea salt and set aside.
- Using a grater or food processor with grater attachment, grate the cauliflower into small pieces resembling rice.
- Heat around two tablespoons of coconut oil in the pan.
- Add the chopped spring onion, garlic, shallots and fresh chilli, and allow to soften and become aromatic
- Add the salmon chunks and stir fry for a about a minute
- Add the cauliflower rice and stir to coat in salmon, onions and garlic
- Stir fry for about five or six mins on a medium heat until the “rice” starts to cook and become al dente
- Add the turmeric and paprika and stir to colour.
- Heat a small dry frying pan until hot, add a small knob of coconut oil and and flash fry the prawns for about a minute until they brown.
- Add the prawns to the cauliflower, garnish with parsley and serve.
- Say ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe that’s cauliflower!” a lot.
