Quote:
Originally Posted by glynne
Do you use it instead of rice, or as a partial replacement for rice in a recipe?
Thank you for taking the time to answer
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No problem, actually you can do either, it depends on your carb tolerance, preference, and the plan you're following (for example, someone on Atkins Induction would use cauliflower "rice" as a rice replacement).
Someone who isn't on a low-carb plan (or on a less strict low-carb plan, such as the reduced-carb exchange plan I follow) may use it as a partial replacement and may combine it with real rice or other grains.
I've done both. My plan allows for a minimum of 2 starch exchanges (my average is usually 3 to 4, because I spend some of my optional calories on carbs).
For me, it depends on how I want to budget my starch calories. If I've already "spent" my 3 to 4 starch exchanges, I'll use cauliflower in place of all the rice. If I still have room in my "budget" I may spend some of it on "real" rice and just use the cauliflower rice to "extend" the rice.
It also depends on who I'm feeding. I like cauliflower rice just fine in place of rice. I also like mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potato. However, my husband doesn't. However, if I mix just a little bit of the "real thing" in a recipe, he likes it just fine.
So he doesn't care for my mashed cauliflower, unless there's a little bit of mashed potato in there. For a 2.5 lb head of cauliflower, I usually use only one or two "exchange" servings of mashed potato flakes (I use the nutrition label to determine how much that is - 80 calories of potato flakes = 1 starch serving.). Since it makes a HUGE batch, it only comes to like 10 calories more than the mashed cauliflower alone (so I usually don't even have to count it as a bread serving, because the carb count is so low).
When I make fried rice for myself, I'm find with just cauliflower rice, but my husband doesn't care for it as much unless there's real rice in there. I also replace some of the rice with wild rice, because wild rice is higher in fiber and protein, and lower in carb than true rice. (It pays to buy a really good wild rice. I never liked wild rice vert much until I was given real wild rice as a wedding gift from my MIL's sister and husband (the rice was harvested by the traditional method by the husband who is native american, Menominee).
Natural, truly wild rice (as opposed to cultivated wild rice) has a much richer flavor, and a more tender texture than cultivated wild rice. And if it's harvested by hand, the grains don't get broken, so the texture is much better..
There are some good cultivated wild rices, and I will buy them occasionally, but I've been spoiled on the good stuff, and will spend more to buy the best wild rice I can.