Cauliflower rice sushi

"Cauliflower Rice" with greenmarket farm-fresh purple cauliflower! I'm so in love with the vibrant color!!!

A video posted by christine (@conscious_cooking) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:52pm PDT

We eat a lot of rice. While it is brown rice is a whole grain, I have always been conscious of not having it as the predominant part of the meal. When you go to a Chinese diner, the fried rice is always 90% rice, 10% meat and vegetables. At home, the fried rice is a 50%/50% ratio. Again, like with the zucchini "pasta" when I first saw Instagram posts for cauliflower rice and cauliflower rice sushi, I knew I had to try them both. (continued below...)

These vegetables were just enough for two rolls for my dinner.

I need to practice my rolling, but the trick is to tightly roll
everything up to the last 1/2" before sealing the seaweed
closed with a little streak of water, moistened with your fingertip

Somehow my sweet potato looks like salmon.
It was a very satisfying meal, both mentally and nutritionally.

Using a food processor, or by hand, chop 1/2 head of a cauliflower into coarse crumbs. In a frying pan, on medium heat, with a tablespoon of olive oil, sauté a bit of finely chopped onion  (optional) for 1-2 minutes, and then add the cauliflower. Stir occasionally for even cooking, cook until soft. Season to taste.

I made a batch the other night for dinner (from a giant local cauliflower) and had some leftover – just enough to try out a couple of gluten-free, all-veggie sushi rolls. You need very little to make up the filling, but you may need to squeeze out any excess water out of the cauliflower before spreading it on to the seaweed. Here, I found whatever I had in the fridge – thinly sliced red cabbage, cucumber, carrot, summer squash and leftover roasted sweet potato and butternut squash. My avocado wasn't ripe, otherwise I would have added that too. Basically anything goes, but eating a variety of colors (a rainbow!) not only makes your food look amazing, it also inadvertently ensures you are getting a variety of nutrients. 

Isn't the purple divine?