Name: COCONUT AND CASHEW CAULIFLOWER RICE
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 16 Oz. Bag of riced or pearl cauliflower (produce department); ½ Cup unsweetened Coconut; 1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil; ½ Serrano pepper thinly slices; 5 Green onions (scallions) chopped – dark green and white separated; 1 Tsp. Cumin seeds; ¼ Cup chopped Cashews; ¼ Cup light coconut milk (plus more to taste); Salt and Pepper to taste; 2 Limes one zested and one cut into wedges for serving

YIELDS:

6-8 servings

PREP TIME:

0 hours 5 mins

COOK TIME:

0 hours 10 mins

TOTAL TIME:

0 hours 15 mins

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ingredients

16 Oz. Bag of riced or pearl cauliflower (produce department)

½ Cup unsweetened Coconut

1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

½ Serrano pepper, thinly slices

5 Green onions (scallions), chopped – dark green and white separated

1 Tsp. Cumin seeds

¼ Cup chopped Cashews

¼ Cup light coconut milk (plus more to taste)

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Limes, one zested and one cut into wedges for serving

DIRECTIONS

1.Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet on the stovetop or grill. Add the white and light green parts of the scallions and the Serrano peppers to the pan and cook until soft and fragrant. About 3 minutes.

2. Add the teaspoon of cumin seeds and stir until fragrant. About one minute.

3. Add the coconut milk and cook for about one minute. Add the cauliflower and salt and pepper liberally. Stir everything together and cook for about 5 minutes to soften the cauliflower but it should be slightly firm. (Add a little more coconut milk if needed.)

4. Stir in the coconut, dark green onion, cashews and zest of the lime. (Save that zested lime for another use) Taste. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve this rice with wedges of lime on the side.

NOTE: This is the lightest and healthiest version of coconut rice yet. It gets its spice from the pepper, it’s crunch from the nuts and it’s yumminess from the coconut oil, milk and shaved coconut. This is delicious.
An important note here: when cauliflower became all the rage as a substitute for rice, I immediately thought “hey, it looks like rice, it’s a veggie and this will be good.” My mistake? The products I used. I grabbed frozen cauliflower and immediately decided I hated that vegetable. I haven’t eaten a lot of it over the years but I immediately did not like it. There was a real pungent smell and it was like mush on my tongue. This was not going to work. BUT, I kept hearing about it and seeing these great recipes so I kept trying. Finally, one day I’m at the supermarket in the produce department and saw a bag of fresh cauliflower pearls. I bought that and it changed my whole opinion…it wasn’t the vegetable I didn’t like, it was the version/product I was buying. Frozen just does not work for me. (It may be fine for you but if you’ve experienced the same thing I did, try fresh.)

Of course, now I also buy my own head of cauliflower and break it up in my food processor but for convenience and a great go to food to have on hand, the already broken down fresh veggie in the produce department is the way to go. I use it for stir-fries, in soups, etc.

And that is all I have to say about that!!! Buy fresh…on cauliflower there is no substitute.