Quick and Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice

Hello yogis and fellow veggie lovers! Here is one of my new favorite weeknight vegetarian recipes. It’s super easy and takes less than thirty minutes to make… maybe even less than 20 if you don’t dilly dally and goof off while you’re making dinner. Hope you love this super easy vegetarian cauliflower fried rice as much as I do!

Did you know that one cup of cauliflower provides over 70% of your daily vitamin C requirement? Yep, it’s true. Cauliflower is also a good source of Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate and Potassium. It even has a little bit of protein (2 grams in one cup). Who knew?

 

vegetarian cauliflower fried rice recipe

Quick and Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice

Serves 2.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 head of cauliflower
  • 1 large carrot, chopped up into smallish pieces
  • 1 big handful of snow peas, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 eggs, whisked
  • 1- 1 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon tamari (or regular soy sauce)
  • white pepper, to taste
  • sea salt, to taste
  • chili pepper flakes, to taste
  • toasted sesame seeds to garnish
  • diced green onions to garnish
  • cilantro sprigs

Instructions

  1. easy cauliflower fried rice recipePrep your cauliflower. Cut the heads of the cauliflower off and feed the heads and top of the stem through the grater on your food processor. You might also be able to use a blender on pulse or hand grate using a cheese grater (but who has time for that). (1-2 minutes)
  2. In a 10-12 inch saute pan, add about 2 teaspoons of your oil (not two tablespoons!) and heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, shallot and carrots to your pan. Saute until the shallots are transparent and the carrots have softened just a bit. (~ 5 minutes)
  3. Add the remaining sesame oil, cauliflower rice, and snow peas to the pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high and saute another 7-9 minutes until the cauliflower is cooked, but not mushy. (7-9 minutes)
  4. Create a well in the center of your pan by pushing all of the cauliflower rice to the side and add your whisk eggs to the well. Allow your eggs to cook a bit and then fold them into the rice. (2 minutes)
  5. Add your tamari and adjust to taste. You may also like to add sea salt, white pepper, or chili pepper flakes at this point too.
  6. Plate your fried rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and green onions.
  7. Enjoy your cauliflower fried rice!

Love cauliflower? Craving something to warm you up on a cool fall or winter evening? Check out my Hazelnut and Cauliflower Soup. It’s also delicious and surprisingly healthy.

Moroccan Spiced Carrot Bruschetta

One of my favorite restaurants in Bend is a Lebanese restaurant called Kebaba, and IĀ always have to order theirĀ carrot and feta jam…. its so deliciously sweet and savory. Somehow we ended up with four bags of carrots in our refrigerator, so I figured trying to recreate this deliciousness was a good way to put a dent in our carrot stash. I however did not make carrot jam, but chose to make some pickled spiced carrots instead and used goat cheese instead of feta… and french bread instead of pita, so it really wasn’t the same at all, but it was equally as delicious. I came across a recipe on EdibleFeast.com that looked just about right, modded it out and here is my EdibleFeast/Kebaba inspired Moroccan Spiced Carrot Bruschetta.

healthy-carrot-recipe

Moroccan Spiced Carrot Bruschetta (serves 6 as an appetizer)

Ingredientshealthy-carrot-bruschetta

  • 1/2 pound (maybe a little more) of grated carrots
  • 3 T. olive oil
  • 1 1/2 T. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 T. white wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 t. honey
  • 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
  • 1 large-ish garlic clove, minced or pressed
  • a thumbnail size piece of fresh ginger, minced
  • 2 teaspoons ras-el-hanout (moroccan spice blend – see below)
  • cayenne, to taste
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 5 oz. goat cheese
  • one loaf of crusty french bread

Directions for Morrocan Spiced Carrot Bruschetta

  1. Combine shredded carrots (I used my food processor because I’m lazy…even too lazy to use my mandoline) with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, white wine, honey, parsley, garlic, fresh ginger, ras-el-hanout, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Mix it up, cover it and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
  2. Preheat your broiler. Slice your french bread into 1/2 inch slices and then toast under the broiler until just golden.
  3. While the bread is still warm spread the goat cheese on.
  4. To serve top your toasts with the carrots and you’re all set.

Ras-el-hanout

You likely have all the spices in your pantry, you do not need to go out and buy the blend, just make it yourself. This recipe is from Epicurious… I only made a couple of changes as noted below. This is a flavor combo that I’ve seen show up in other moroccan dishes that I’ve made, so I’m pretty sure my remaining spice blend will be used up quickly.

Ingredients for Ras-el-hanout

  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger (I ommitted and used fresh ginger in the recipe instead)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • dash or two of ground nutmeg (my addition)

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients, stir them up and store in an airtight jar. Should keep for a month or so according to Epicurious.
Autumn Adams
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