Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice

Make Ahead and Storage

Refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat hard in a dry pan rather than a microwave — steam is what makes it watery on the second day.

How to Make Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice

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1. Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor in two batches until it is the size of rice grains. Do not over-process or it turns to paste.

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2. Heat a wok or the widest pan you own over high heat, dry, and add the cauliflower. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until it stops steaming and starts to smell nutty. Tip it out.

   Mark done Start 4 min timer

3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the beaten egg, scramble it hard for 30 seconds and tip it out with the cauliflower.

   Mark done Start 30 sec timer

4. Add another tablespoon of oil and the chicken in one layer. Leave it 3 minutes, then stir-fry 3 minutes more until cooked through and browned at the edges.

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5. Add the last tablespoon of oil, the garlic, ginger and spring onion whites and stir-fry 45 seconds.

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6. Return the cauliflower and egg, add the peas, and toss over high heat for 2 minutes.

   Mark done Start 2 min timer

7. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, white pepper and salt, toss for 30 seconds, and finish with the spring onion greens.

   Mark done Start 30 sec timer

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Worth Knowing

• Dry-fry the cauliflower first, alone. Every soggy version of this dish skips that step.
• Thigh rather than breast — it survives wok heat, and breast does not.
• Have everything chopped before the wok goes on. This dish moves quickly once it starts.

Some Background

Cauliflower rice goes soggy for the same reason ordinary fried rice does: too much moisture and not enough heat. Blitzed cauliflower holds a lot of water, so it goes into a dry, very hot wok first and is cooked alone for a few minutes to drive that off before anything else joins it. Crowding the pan at any stage undoes the whole thing.

Good Alongside

Chilli crisp on top · A cold light lager · Cucumber in rice vinegar

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Stir-Fried Water Spinach.

Swaps and Variations

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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