Name: lemon cauliflower rice
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1 medium head cauliflower; 1-2 red chilis, thinly sliced; 1 lemon (juice and zest); 1/2 cup fresh coriander (cilantro) chopped; 1/2 cup sliced scallions (3 scallions)

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lemon cauliflower rice with red peppers, coriander. lemons and scallions in stainless steel pan on board and whole lemon in background.

Time to make a change

Ditch that boring rice. Lemon cauliflower rice is the colorful, flavorful healthy alternative to liven up any meal, any day of the week. And guess what? You won’t believe it’s cauliflower.

1 head of cauliflower, 2 red chilis, 1 lemon, fresh coriander (cilantro) and 3 scallions on white board.

5-ingredients? That’s worth a look

Making a special (or not-so special) dish even better with a great side is a pleasure as long as you don’t have to do much planning or running around for special ingredients. Lemon cauliflower rice is well, lemon and cauliflower with some red chilis, coriander and scallions thrown in for extra color and punch.

Grater blade for a food processor, empty food processor container and box grater on white board.

Off to the tool shed

cauliflower is grated using a bk grater. Laid of blue mat with grater, grated cauliflower and cauliflower florets.

Hand grater

There are 2 easy ways to prepare cauliflower rice. Both yield the same results. Both have their pros and cons. A regular old box grater is a standard in just about anyone’s kitchen. Don’t cut the florets too small. Bigger is easier to grate (and safer). A quick solution with a tool that is easy to clean.

A food process is filled with grated cauliflower on a blue mat.

Food processor

A food processor is a great, quicker, option. I like to set my blade on the fine grate so more of the moisture is released. Have a play around here. Food processor blades are not entirely universal. Besides, you might like a courser texture. Your food processor will be quicker than the hand grater and for safety’s sake, there will be less waste. Just cut the florets to fit into the feeder. The downside – more to clean up.

Grated cauliflower is pressed between paper towels.

The frisk (pat-down)

Cauliflower is surprisingly moist once it’s grated. The easiest way to take care of this is to line a plate or board with a few paper towels, top it off and give the old pat-down. Food security 😊.

It freezes…

Since you are grating and patting anyhow, you can always freeze cauliflower rice at this point. This is a great option if you don’t want to use an entire head of cauliflower or if you want to batch up a bunch for future use. Just freeze-bad it up and you are good for the next time. Once you thaw it, you may want to give it another pat-down to get any additional moisture out.

Lemon zest and sliced red chilis are added to grated cauliflower.

Go organic

Speaking again of security If you are going to use citric zests (or peels) such as lemon, lime or orange, you want to use organic whenever possible. It’s impossible to get rid of the pesticides and preserving agents sprayed on the skins of lemons. A blog post by Kitchen Stewardship has a suitably concerning post about this. Being practical and always on a budget, I usually only buy organic if I’m using the zest. If you are vegan and need another reason, a BBC radio program we recently caught discussed why lemon skins aren’t vegan. Who knew?

Stirring cauliflower rice with red chilis, scallions and fresh coriander with a wooden spoon in a silver skillet.

‘Rice’ in less

One of the wonders of lemon cauliflower rice is how quick it comes together. The extra few minutes grating the cauliflower more than makes up for the fact that you are seriously only looking at a few minutes of heating it up on the stove top. This is the time to add the lemon juice and the lemon zest as well as the chopped red chilis. Done and done.

Lemon cauliflower rice is lifted with a spoon over a white bowl.

What goes with lemon cauliflower rice?

Go to nearly any Indian restaurant and you’ll find lemon rice. It’s a southern Indian side-dish staple. For good reason, it’s wonderful with curry or chana masala. Don’t stop there. It’s a worthy accompaniment for stews and great with just roasted vegetables tossed on top. So, before you reach for the rice, remember how lemon cauliflower rice jazzes up any meal in minutes.

lemon cauliflower rice in white bowl on board.

Final thoughts

I don’t own a rice cooker, so I always end up with a big mess on my stove top when I cook rice because I fail to keep an eye on the pot. It always overflows. If I try to be ‘smart’ and use a bigger pot (I knew you were going to suggest that), I forget, am left with overcooked, stuck-to-the bottom of the pan rice or I open the lid. All this is not to say I don’t cook rice. I do. And I love it.

I admit it. Sometimes stresses me out when I am cooking rice for guests. There’s a moment of irrational thought based on past experiences and preconceived impressions of myself. I know that the best way to break such a cycle is to meet it head on and break through. Create positive experiences that change preconceived impressions of self. While I work on breaking my bad rice cycle though, I think I’ll do a bit more cauliflower rice. Peace.