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5:2 Diet - Savoury Cauliflower Rice = 137 calories


I'm rather excited about this recipe.

There are quite a few of us doing the 5:2 diet at my work, so conversation at work often revolves around our diet and what we are eating.

I tell you we must be saints to have a break in our staff room. One of our workmates Shirley piles the table high with goodies and we have to try and resist on our fast days. Mind you she may think twice now she is also doing the 5:2 diet herself, although I wouldn't bet on it.

Anyway I digress, Karen was the one who told me about this fabulous idea. You simply whizz up cauliflower and then gently cook it, season it and use it in the place of rice. Of course I used my Vitamix to whizz up my cauliflower in 3 batches but if you have a standard blender or food processor, then just do a little at a time.

Genius!

Aren't librarians clever?

1 cup of rice = 205 calories
1 cup cauliflower = 25 calories

See what I mean?

Just think of all the possibilities!



Spicy cauliflower rice with onion, courgette, carrot, red peppers, sweetcorn and ripe salad tomatoes. A huge bowlful for only 137 calories. 

The peppers in this dish were from Cooks and Co and I don't remember having such nice jarred red peppers before. Lovely big peppers that were succulent and sweet and I was surprised at how low in calories they were. Two large peppers for only 23 calories. 

I will be using these in a salad soon or maybe just on toast, since they are so good.
 





Spicy Cauliflower Rice with 2 Large Hard Boiled Eggs
spicy cauliflower rice = 137 calories
2 large hard boiled eggs = 156 calories

total = 283 calories

Spicy Cauliflower Rice with Grilled Halloumi
 spicy cauliflower rice = 137 calories
80g halloumi grilled = 253 calories

total = 380 calories


print recipe

Savoury Cauliflower Rice
A super low calorie meal that is satisfying and packed with flavour, Only 137 calories per serving.
Ingredients
  • 436g/1 small cauliflower
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 courgettes (zucchini), chopped
  • 100g/ 2 drained roasted peppers (rinsed if stored in oil)
  • 80g sweetcorn
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 300ml (with 1 cube) vegetable stock
  • a good grinding of salt and black pepper
  • 4 large salad tomatoes
Instructions
1. Whizz the cauliflower up in a vitamix/food processor until fairly fine. Set it aside until you need it.2. Saute the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil until the onion is soft and translucent.3. Add the celery and carrots and saute gently until the carrots are tender4. Next add the courgette and cook for another couple of minutes.5. Spoon in the spices and mix well.6. Pour in the cauliflower and mix until well coated in the spices.7. Add the stock, cover and simmer gently for 15 - 20 minutes.8. Add the peppers and sweetcorn and mix through.9. Season with salt and pepper.10. Chop the tomatoes in quarters and add to the top of each dish as you serve it
Details:
Total time:
Yield: Serves 4


More of my 5:2 Diet Recipes:


Have you tried the 5:2 fast diet yet?

I am submitting my rice dish to Credit Crunch Munch, a monthly challenge set by Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla over at Fab Food 4 All. My rice dish was very frugal. I made it from what I already had in my kitchen. The peppers were free and I used up my last carrot and courgette.



Disclosure: I received a vitamix and the peppers free for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review and any opinions expressed are my own.

63 comments

  1. This sounds great - will def be trying this!

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    1. Good, hope you enjoy it Katie. It would be good with some chunky pieces of cucumber on top as a contrast.

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  2. This is now my Monday tea, sounds gorgeous x

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    1. Thanks. I will be trying it for lunch. A big improvement on the crispbreads I usually have, so I will have lots of calories left for my evening meal.

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  3. I love the look of this. Cauliflower is one of those vegetables I always do the same old thing with

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    1. Me too, I usually make cauliflower cheese or soup with it.

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  4. Just from looking at this, it's hard to tell it's not rice WITH cauliflower, but rice FROM cauliflower. I cannot WAIT until I can splash out for a Vitamix (must wait 'til after taxes) but I'll certainly be trying this!

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    1. It is inspired Tanita. Wish it was my idea. You are so going to love your Vitamix once you get it.

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  5. I've heard about it before but never tried doing it. There's also Cauliflower pizza base which you make with the 'rice' and some kind of stringy cheese (e.g. mozzerella) I keep meaning to try because I've seen a few recipes and they all look fabulous!

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    1. Wow, that sounds rather amazing Fiona. I can't believe I am the last to hear about this.

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  6. I can vouch for the fact that this works - Paul Merrett did it at a Total Greek event and it was lovely. Didn't taste of overcooked cauliflower either. Also Saf use it in their raw sushi a lot I think. Now I have a food processor I must try it myself. Thanks for reminding me

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    1. That's ok. There is just so much it can be used for.

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  7. That looks and sounds delicious- such an underused veg too! Certainly doesn't look like diet food, unreal how low in calories it is. Look forward to trying this out, don't have many cauli recipes. Usually just add to a curry/fritter type thing/crudite, raw.

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    1. I don't use cauliflower enough myself, but this will certainly perk up my fast lunches.

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  8. I've been using this approach to make cauliflower "couscous". It's totally my new favourite thing. Low-cal or not it's tasty and incredibly versatile. I confess I do find the cauliflower pizza base concept horribly wrong, but that's just me... and perhaps I'm being too quick to judge having never tried it. :)

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    1. I'm going to have to google the pizza base & see for myself, although I do sometimes have half a thin normal pizza with not much cheese on it on fast days.

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  9. Replies
    1. Great! Let me know what you end up making with the rice Tandy.

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  10. What a great idea. It's amazing just how much food you can actually eat for few calories if you're creative! My hubby and I have been doing the 5:2 diet for 4 weeks now (Mon & Tues) back to back and it's amazing. It's much easier when there are lovely recipes like this to keep us on track.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Caroline. I'm so glad I have inspired you :)

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  11. That's a super recipe, Jacqueline! Love the idea and your presentation is so colorful and healthy looking.
    This is the first I've heard of the 5.2 diet and when I clicked on it and saw the word FASTING, I thought, uh uh. Not for me. The most I've ever done was a cleansing diet years ago. Hated every minute of it. Would rather watch calories any day. :)

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    1. The name can be misleading Barbara, it is more about restricting your calories twice a week, not so hard when you can eat what you like (within reason) on the other five days. Everyone is talking about it here in the UK.

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  12. Love the color of this dish! Turmeric makes everything better. :)

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    1. It wouldn't be such a beautiful colour without it. Turmeric is so handy to have in the kitchen.

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  13. I think this looks great! How interesting to use cauliflower like that. I am definitely going to try it.

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  14. Of course Librarians are clever Jac, wouldn't dispute it for a moment ;-)

    This cauliflower idea is pure genius and your meal looks nutritious and delicious for any meal - fast day or not. I sit right next to the biscuit / cake corner at work and it's funny how everyone brings in particularly yummy things to eat when I'm on a fast day.

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    1. It's sods law isn't it Choclette, although I find it easy to resist during the day, it's late at night that it is harder.

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  15. I love cauliflower rice, too, although I usually eat it raw. I have yet to try to cook it. I also haven't tried to chop it with my vitamix (I usually use my food processor), but since I am worried about my processor dying, I am curious how the vitamix compares. For other veg substitutes, zucchini noodles are one of my favourites for pasta. :)

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    1. Good idea Janet, I will have to try the zucchini noodles on one of my fast days.

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  16. Such a brilliant idea - I'll have to try it myself and look into the 5:2 diet

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  17. Lovely recipe and photos Jac, this has been on my to list for some time.

    I do like your 5:2 approach of a large bowl of food, rather than smaller portions of normal food. I think massive bowlfuls of veggies is the only way to go, I need my tum to be full.

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    1. Hey Helen, I have since found that there is way too much in a quarter of this casserole full for one, I think there are actually 6 portions, so even less calories.I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

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  18. Love love love this idea!! Have you heard of cauliflower crust pizza? I wrote about it on my blog, it's amazing!! You can find it here

    http://yummymetz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/i-cant-stop-telling-everyone-i-know.html

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    1. Thanks Metz, someone mentioned it to me, but I hadn't seen it.

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  19. Just printed this out to try as have recently started the 5:2 diet too. Can't believe how low the calories are and it looks yummy!

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  20. I think this a great little recipe - full of flavour and enough to fill you up. Fantastic that it is so low in calories!

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    1. Thanks Jacqueline, I'm rather pleased with it :)

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  21. I loved your Moroccan style potatoes, but was less impressed by this.It's possible I processed the cauliflower too much, but it seemed to have an odd texture to it. The flavour was okay, and it made a filling(ish) accompaniement to fish, but was a tad dissappointed. Still! You can't win 'em all and plenty of people have enjoyed it, so it's probably just me... Thanks for the other recipes & 5:2 hints

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    1. I didn't mind the texture at all, maybe yours needed cooked a little longer. It's definitely not as good as the Moroccan style potato bake, but there isn't much that can beat that dish. This is great for being so low calories. I can eat a bowl of this instead of two crispbreads with a triangle of soft cheese for the same calories. So this wins that race.

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  22. I cooked this for dinner last night and I thought it was fantastic! I am not on a diet so I topped it with a fried egg which worked brilliantly. I am in love with cauliflower rice, its great and I love the spices in yours. Great stuff so thanks!

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  23. Wow, this looks yummy. I'm on a fast day today and have 300 calories left for tea - and a cauliflower in the fridge - sold!

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  24. Hi because your recipes are for more than one serving, can you append whether you tried freezing it? SOme food works well with freezing, some less. How about this califlouwer rice? Thanks!

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  25. Just had this for my dinner, it was delicious. Thank you for the recipe. I look forward to trying your other ideas

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    1. I am so glad you enjoyed it Frances. Thanks for taking the time to let me know :)

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  26. Soooo good! Thank you so much - I never would have thought of this and it has really filled a hole! A great start to my 5:2 diet. Going to freeze a batch for another day. :)

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  27. Such a great way to start my 5:2 diet - thank you so much. I never would have thought of this use of cauliflower and the veg and spices work perfectly with it.
    Great stuff, thanks! :)

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  28. Tried this out today but without the sweetcorn/courgettes/celery and with a few tablespoons more oil and chilli (2) and a handful of brown rice but it was really really good! Definitely one I'll be experimenting with more later :D

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    1. Good for you on afapting it and glad you enojoyed it :)

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  29. Thank you so much for this recipe. Much appreciated!

    Is it 137 or 127 calories? The main recipe says 137, but the variations bit says 127.

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    1. Sorry that was a typo. Glad you spotted it. It is indeed 137 calories. I'll go change it now. Hope you enjoy it :)

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  30. Can you use the standard vitamix jug to whizz the cauliflower or do you need to use the special dry container jug?

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    1. High sorry I missed this, I can't remember which I used. I have an Optimum9400 now and it does wet and dry so I don't have to change.

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  31. Wow - I'm a veggie also on the 5:2 diet and SO excited to find your 5:2 posts. Lots of ideas to try - thank you!!
    Kate
    www.TheVegSpace.co.uk

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    1. Yay! Enjoy the recipes Kate. Do try my moroccan potato bake. It is amazing!

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  32. Great recipe, I've been looking for this it's so quick and easy to follow and ideal for people who are not keen on Rice. I'm going to share on my facebook page on Tuesday!

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  33. This was absolutely delicious!! Will definitely make it again. Thank you for a great recipe :)

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    1. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and let me know. Glad you enjoyed it :)

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I love reading comments, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. Unfortunately, I'm bombarded with spam, so I've turned on comment moderation. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can and respond to them. Don't panic, they will disappear when you hit publish. Jac x