A head of cauliflower broken down into grains and fried with onion and cumin. Ten minutes, no grain, no pasta, and it takes on whatever it is cooked with.
Water is the enemy
Cauliflower is about 92 per cent water, and that is the entire difficulty of this dish. Handled carelessly it collapses into a wet mash that has nothing to do with rice.
Three things keep it separate:
- Leave the pan uncovered. Covering it traps the steam and the cauliflower cooks in its own water.
- Keep the heat up and the pan roomy. Crowded cauliflower steams; spread out over decent heat, the water evaporates as it comes out.
- Salt at the end. Salt draws water out of vegetables, so salting at the start works directly against you.
Four or five minutes is enough. Cauliflower cooked until completely soft has already lost.
Pulse, do not run
In a food processor, short bursts rather than a continuous run. Left running, the blades turn the bottom of the bowl to paste while the top is still in chunks.
Without a processor, the coarse side of a box grater does the job and arguably gives a better texture, at the cost of about five minutes and some knuckles.
Florets, not corsages
The original recipe asked you to cut the cauliflower into corsages, which are the flower arrangements worn on the wrist at a school dance. The word wanted was florets.
Break the head into florets and keep the tops. The thick stems are what make the texture gritty, so they are better saved for a soup than blitzed in with the rest.
What to do with it
On its own it is a side with cumin and lime. It also takes the place of rice in most things: under a stew, folded through a stir fry, or as the base of a bowl. It absorbs flavour readily, which is both its strength and the reason it tastes of nothing when it is underseasoned.
More cauliflower
- Cauliflower cream soup — where the stems can go.
- Cauliflower fritters — battered and fried.
- Cauliflower gratin — under béchamel.
- Cauliflower pizza base — the same grains, pressed.
Cauliflower Rice FAQ
Trapped water. Keep the pan uncovered so the steam escapes, keep the heat reasonably high, do not crowd the pan, and salt at the end rather than the beginning, since salt draws water out. Four or five minutes is enough.
It is a mistranslation. A corsage is a flower arrangement worn on the wrist; the word wanted was florets. Break the head into florets, keep the tops and set the thick stems aside for soup.
Yes. The coarse side of a box grater gives a very good texture, arguably better than a processor, and takes about five minutes. If you do use a processor, pulse in short bursts rather than running it continuously.
Raw, yes: blitz it and freeze it in bags, then cook it from frozen with a couple of extra minutes. Cooked cauliflower rice freezes poorly and comes back watery.
No, and it is not meant to. It has the texture of rice and a mild cabbagey flavour of its own, and it works because it carries whatever it is cooked with. Underseason it and it tastes of very little.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower (a medium head gives about four servings)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- Cumin, to taste
- Salt and black pepper, to taste (salt draws water out, so add it at the end)
- Juice of ½ lemon (off the heat, at the end)
Notas
Instructions
- Wash the cauliflower well.
- Cut off the base and the leaves and break the head into florets, keeping the tops and discarding the thick stems.
- Put them in a food processor and pulse until the cauliflower looks like grains of rice. Without a processor, a coarse grater does the same job.
- Chop the onion finely.
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and cook the onion for about 3 minutes, until it softens.
- Add the cumin and the pepper, and a little more oil if the pan looks dry.
- Add the cauliflower and stir. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Cook for another 4 or 5 minutes, stirring often and leaving the pan uncovered so the water evaporates, until the cauliflower is done but still has some bite.
- Serve hot or warm, with chopped parsley or cilantro and the lemon juice over the top.
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