Spicy Ginger Cauliflower “Fried Rice” w/Pork

And it’s December!

Hard to believe that 2012 is in its final month.  It’s been a long while since last I’ve posted, so I have some major catching up to do.  My early next year/New Year resolution shall be to post more regularly!

In the meantime, here’s a comfort dish for the winter months — spicy ginger cauliflower “fried rice.”

I have seen various cauliflower “fried rice” in various paleo food blogs and recipe sites, but had never tried making it.  Cauliflowers in our kitchen tend to end up being roasted.  But when David and I went to a Japanese super market a few months ago and came across beautiful, thinly sliced Berkshire pork belly — and I had to buy it.  What to make with this paper thin pork belly slices?  (Cauliflower) “fried rice” seemed like a good idea.

Oh, and some gorgeous shimeji mushrooms were on sale, too.  Perfect.

The most “labor intensive” part of making (cauliflower) fried rice is chopping all the ingredients — it’s not a particularly skill-intensive effort, it just takes a bit of time.  Prepping everything beforehand is very important, to make the cooking process smooth.

Here, the recipe:

SPICY GINGER (CAULIFLOWER) “FRIED RICE” w/PORK

• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped finely into “rice”-ish shapes (**I prefer to hand-cut the cauliflower, because I feel the food processor makes the cauliflower “grains” too fine, and loses texture)
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 1 small bunch of shimeji mushrooms (a.k.a. beech mushrooms)
• ~ 1 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 thumb-size piece of ginger, finely minced
• 1 jalapeño, de-seeded and minced
• 1 lb. thinly sliced pork belly, chopped into about 1/2 inch pieces
• 5 eggs, scrambled lightly and set aside (see below)
• 5 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 stalks of scallions, chopped

First, scramble the eggs lightly (do not over-cook) and set aside.

In a large pan on medium-high heat, drizzle some olive oil.  Cook the garlic, ginger and jalapeño peppers to release flavor, for about 1 minute.

Add the onions and carrots, salt to sweat.

When the onions soften a little, add the mushrooms, and then the pork.  Mix well.

When the mushrooms soften, add the cauliflower, mix and well and cook for about 5 minutes, until the pork is cooked through.

Add the soy sauce and mirin.  The vegetables will have released some water, so let it cook down.

When the liquid has mostly cooked off, add the scrambled eggs, and breaking into pieces and mixing well.

Add the scallions, season with salt and pepper as desired.

Heap into a bowl, garnish with scallions and enjoy!

We love this recipe — the ginger gives it a wonderful aroma and a bit of kick, and it feels healthy, too.  As with your more traditional fried rice dishes, the protein can be what you’d like it to be, and doesn’t have to be thinly sliced pork belly — although if you come across it, I highly recommend you try it!

Tags: cauliflower, pork