I’m The Domestic Princess and I’m a carboholic. There. I’ve said it. It’s out in the open. In fact, I’m not only addicted to carbohydrates in the obvious form (pasta, rice, bread, potatoes), but chocolate and sugar too. I love carbohydrates. No, make that adore. I like nothing better than crusty white bread, slathered in salted Jersey butter topped with Marmite. Or what I wouldn’t give for a steaming bowl of spaghetti bolognaise. Even a plate of creamy mash on its own can make me the happiest girl on earth. And don’t even start me on what a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk does to me. But the problem is my relationship with these food groups is not a fair one. No, no, no. You see, my love is just not reciprocated. I eat these foods and all they do is make me fat, lethargic and generally, quite unwell. Unless you’ve been living under a rock since January, you’ll be completely au fait with the war that is being wielded against sugar. Some are even suggesting it’s more addictive than cocaine. Having never tried the white stuff, I can’t confirm or deny this. What I can confirm, is that once I start eating sugary things, I literally can’t stop. Not only does sugar make you put on weight, it has also been attributed to increasing your risk of heart disease (The Domestic King is evidence of this), type 2 diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, ageing, exacerbating autoimmune diseases and causing wrinkles. Not pretty at all. Sugar pretty gets into most ready-packaged food. Take a look at some of the packets and bottles in your cupboard, you’ll be surprised at how many have sugar added to the ingredients. If it ends in an ose, then it’s a form of sugar.
Any form of carbohydrate eventually gets broken down by your body into glucose. Glucose is the most simple form of sugar. Whilst the body can use glucose for fuel, levels that exceed what one actually needs, is toxic. Excess carbohydrates such as pasta, potato and rice do in fact have the same impact on your body as say a Coke, Mars Bar or handful of Haribos. The fructose that’s present in fruit and the carbohydrates in vegetables are treated by your body in exactly the same way as well. The body doesn’t have the ability to differentiate between the sugar in a chocolate bar vs fructose in pineapple. The overriding problem is when there’s glucose floating around in the body’s bloodstream. Any glucose that’s ingested that’s not immediately used, is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. This would be absolutely fine, if our bodies didn’t have a limited number of glycogen receptors. When these are at capacity, as they typically are in inactive people, the body only has one choice: to store all the excess glucose as saturated fat and normally around one’s organs. Not ideal is it? I don’t want to turn this post completely into the affect of carbohydrates on our bodies, so will save all the other facts for a future one.
So, what has my ramblings about carbs and sugar got to do with today’s recipe? Well, when you follow a low-carb diet, you end up trying to be quite creative with your menu. Just because carbs and I aren’t friends, doesn’t mean we weren’t at one point and I miss them terribly. I’m an avid pinner on Pinterest and can while away many an hour. One of the recipes I kept coming across was something called cauliflower “rice”, cooked in many ways, which of course peaked my interest. I’m not a massive fan of plain, boiled rice, but put a bowl of egg fried rice in front of me and I’m one happy Princess. Some of the cauliflower rice recipes I came across were for “fried rice”. I was all over this like a rash and started experimenting toute suite! The result? A VERY suitable alternative to proper fried rice. Even The Domestic Prince, who’s not known for his love of vegetables loves this recipe. He can’t actually get enough of it. If you’re not a fan of cauliflower, let me assure you, this tastes NOTHING like cauliflower, you have my word. I also need to apologise for the lack of photo, the gannet otherwise known as The Domestic Prince, wolfed it all down before I’d had a chance to take a picture. I’m making another batch of this heavenly food this week, so will take a picture and update the blog with it. Oh, and the feedback on various other versions has been it’s gone down a storm with children too, who had no idea it wasn’t actually rice.
Serves 2 hungry adults
Ingredients
- 4tbsp sesame oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1tbsp ginger, minced
- 4 carrots, diced into cubes
- 150g broccoli, chopped into small pieces
- 1 large cauliflower
- 3tbsp soy sauce
- Splash of fish sauce
- Splash of Chinese rice wine vinegar
- Generous handful of cooked shredded chicken or shrimps
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 3 spring onion, chopped
Method
- Tear the leaves off the cauliflower and chop into tree-like pieces. If you’re lucky enough to own a food processor (I’d be lost without mine), pop them in and pulse until the cauliflower resembles rice. If you don’t have a processor, then just use your regular cheese grater.
- Put 2tbsp of the sesame oil into a hot wok. When the oil has heated-up, add in the crushed garlic and minced ginger and let it fry until it’s just turning a light brown colour (around 30 seconds).
- Put the broccoli and carrots in the wok and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they start to slightly char. Remove from the wok and set aside.
- Pop the remaining sesame oil into the wok and add the “rice”. Sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the “rice” starts to colour slightly.
- Add the soy sauce, fish sauce and rice wine vinegar and coat the rice.
- Put the chicken (or shrimp) and broccoli and carrots in the work and stir until combined with the “rice” and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Make a well in the middle of the wok and pour in the beaten eggs. Stir until they scramble and then incorporate with the rest of the dish.
- Throw in the chopped spring onions and give a quick stir for about 30 seconds.
- Serve immediately.
Domestic Princess tips
- If your cauliflower rice feels a bit on the damp side, put it in a tea towel and give it a good squeeze to get rid of any excess water. This will ensure a better texture of “rice”.
- If you like your dishes to be spicy, then add a finely chopped red chilli at stage 2 of the recipe.
- My vegetable and protein suggests above, are just that, suggestions. This is the perfect recipe to use up any veggies or meat/fish you have leftover in the ‘fridge.
- I can’t stand coriander, but if you like it, a sprinkle just before serving would be great.
- I always serve mine with a small little bowl of soy sauce.
- This is a very low-calorie recipe, so is perfect for those of you following the 5:2 Fast Diet (100g of plain cauliflower rice is only 24 calories), a Paleo lifestyle, or are on a plan like Weight Watchers (cauliflower “rice” is zero points) or Slimming World etc. And obviously, perfect for you low-carbers!!
Just a little word of warning….this dish isn’t that pretty to look at, but I guarantee what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste! It’s like a hug in a bowl; perfect for those times you fancy something really comforting.
With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo
