From my LJ Blog on July 18, 2012.

Last week, I printed my recipe for Chile Rellanos and I made a pan of eight of them. With only two of us to eat them, it meant that we had leftovers. What a pity! So, for dinner last night, I planned the rellanos, but then I started thinking about the side dishes you usually get at Mexican restaurants with this type of dish. Namely rice and beans. I loved my grandmother’s Spanish rice. It wasn’t like the Mexican rice, but a Tex-Mex version, I would guess. I don’t know where Grandmother got her recipe, but she was from a long-standing Texas family, apparently several generations in west Texas. Like my grandfather, she had grown up on a ranch and the food she cooked was good working man fare. Anyway, her rice was filled with wonderful flavor and canned tomatoes rather than just the pale pink sauce you see on Spanish rice.

So I wanted to adapt this to a low carb version, which is pretty impossible using rice. So I turned to cauliflower, riced it, added one tablespoon of rice and made the recipe with the ingredients and spices that my grandmother used. It was awesome! PK and I loved it and I am happy to share this recipe here. Hope you enjoy. Let me know how you like it.

Grandma’s Tex-Mex Spanish Cauli-rice

This recipe is based on my grandmother’s Tex-Mex recipe for Spanish rice. There is one tablespoon of rice to give the rice flavor and the rest is cauliflower that has been riced to give a lower carbohydrate dish. You can omit the rice completely if you prefer not to put it in your diet. Not induction friendly, but good for Phase II on.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dry White Rice
1 12 to 16 oz package Cauliflower or start from fresh and parboil it, about 3 cups
15 oz can Diced Tomatoes
¼ cup Sweet Peppers*
½ cup chopped Onions
1 tsp minced Garlic
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Seasoning Salt or to taste
1 tablespoon Oil or Butter

Using a food processor or a cheese grater finely cut the cauliflower to rice-sized pieces. Don’t worry if you have a few larger chunks.

In a large pan, sauté garlic and onion in a tablespoon of olive oil or butter. Add canned tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of water and cauliflower and stir well. Add the chopped peppers and seasoning then cover the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Let cook on low heat until the liquid is reduced and the rice is tender, between 20 and 30 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings, calories: 42, net carbs 6 (estimates)

*A few months ago, PK came home with a bag of sweet mini-peppers – red, yellow and orange, which we have pretty much kept in stock since then. They are wonderful stuffed with cheese and broiled for a snack, cut up in salads and added to any dish that would benefit from a touch of sweet chili.

This Spanish style cauli-rice dish can easily become a main dish by adding ground beef or diced chicken to it. Roll it up in a low carb tortilla and it’s a delicious snack or light lunch.