I bet you think I made some kind of saucy chicken and vegetable stuffy over a lovely mound of steamed white rice. Well, the sauce was from a jar. Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Curry Sauce, to be exact. Sure, I simmered in it some onions, red & yellow bell pepper, and chicken, but that's hardly a recipe to take credit for. So then what is this post all about?
Well, let's get back to that rice. Sometimes, thinks are just not what they seem, and I think this may be my first blogging optical illusion (well, except for when my brother asked if he was supposed to eat the wrapper on his
cupcake truffle pop). If you really know me, you might have down a double take at the thought of me eating a big plate of rice on a weeknight! Well of course it's not rice, folks! It wouldn't be, in this newly-modified-low-carb-household (note, we still eat all our veggies and fruits!).
So I suppose some of you might be just dying to know what the heck you're looking at. If you haven't guessed by now, it's cauliflower! Yes, seriously, it is. We love the mashed cauliflower thing (which I really prefer not to call a substitute for mashed potatoes, because I really just like cauliflower for being it's lovely self). So when I came across the idea to grate and steam cauliflower, I thought it would be perfect underneath my sauce stir fry which otherwise would have gone naked. Sad. But, cauliflower to the rescue!
To prepare cauliflower as a stand-in for rice, simply wash and chop into florets, and then grate it in a food processor using the shredding attachment. Then, simply steam in the microwave in a covered, microwave-safe dish with a bit of water and salt. A head of cauliflower should take about 8 minutes on high, but check to make sure you've achieved the desired texture. At this point you can serve the cauliflower the same way you would serve steamed rice - I think it would go quite nicely under anything saucy, or any stir fry. Or, you could prepare a "fried rice"-style dish, just subbing the cauliflower where you would add the rice to the veggies and meat.
We really enjoyed this - yes, even my husband. I suppose I'm rather lucky to have a man who is open to trying new things and appreciates healthier substitutions just like I do. Honestly, the texture of this works perfectly. I'd of course be lying if I said it tasted exactly like rice - it doesn't, it tastes like cauliflower. But considering cauliflower is fairly mild, this would go with just about anything that rice would.
After I made this dish and checked out my pictures, I thought, "wow, it's almost like magic how much like rice that looks!" and then I start humming... "oh oh oh it's magic, you know..." and then I thought, "Does
Elly have an
Eat to the Beat coming up?" Oh, you bet she does. Perfect! So in honor of making magic in the kitchen and Magic by the band Pilot, I am submitting this creation (not quite a recipe, just an idea!) to Elly's blogging event for music-inspired food.
