Preparation
Blitz - A food processor will give the best results. Remove the outer leaves from the cauliflower, cut it into quarters and remove most of the thick core, then cut each quarter into two or three chunks. You don’t want to overload the blender, or it will struggle to blitz the cauliflower, instead work with about half the cauliflower at a time. Blend for 30 seconds or so, until the cauliflower resembles fine rice, or couscous.
Grate - If you don’t own a food processer, you can grate the raw cauliflower on the coarse side of the grater. You may find you’re left with a few bigger pieces, which will give the ‘rice’ a chunkier texture.
Cooking
Microwaving
By far the easiest way to cook your cauliflower rice, and as you don’t need to add any fat, the healthiest too. Microwave fresh cauliflower rice in a heatproof bowl, covered with cling film, for three minutes on High. If using from the freezer, microwave for four minutes on High, mixing the ‘rice’ half way through cooking. This method gives the rice a nice, neutral flavour, perfect for serving with a curry or tagine.
Stir-frying
We stir-fried our cauliflower rice in a little olive oil, for 5 minutes. Although we found this gave it a lovely, nutty flavour and colour, the texture was less pleasing. We were left with soggy cauliflower rice, which clumped together in places.
Roasting
This was our favourite method of cooking. We tossed the rice in a drizzle of olive oil in a tray, then spread it out to a thin, even layer. We then roasted the ‘rice’ at 200C for 12 minutes, mixing it in the tray halfway through cooking. This dried the rice out, giving it a light, fluffy texture and intensified the flavour.