Vietnamese Cauli-Fried Rice W/Nước Chấm Sauce

Directions for Nước Chấm Sauce:
1/4 cup water
2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (to taste)
2 tablespoons fish sauce (Get a Paleo friendly brand HERE)
1 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon honey (omit for 21DSD & Whole30)
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or coconut vinegar
Chili flakes optional


For The Fried Rice:
3 cups of grated cauliflower (about 1 large head)
2-3 tablespoons coconut oil or preferred cooking oil
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup onion, diced
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup asparagus, diced
1 cup sausage, chopped (traditionally Chinese sausage is used, I used Kielbasa)
1 cup raw shrimp (about 9 large 16 count shrimp, raw or cooked) chopped
2 large eggs, cracked & lightly beaten
1/4 cup spring onions, chopped
1/4 cilantro
Coarse sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Sauce - In a mason jar, combine all the Nước chấm Sauce ingredients. Shake or mix well. Sprinkle as desired onto fried rice, salads or even use a dipping sauce.

Rice:
Grate the Cauliflower using a food processor with the grater attachment or use a hand grater. Using the food processor w/o attachment will work to, but the texture won't be as light.

Prep the rest of the ingredients as stated in the ingredient list above. I find it helpful to put each ingredient into a separate prep bowl.

You will need 2 pans/woks for best results.(unless you cut the recipe in half)

Note: Flat bottomed woks work best on a stove top as opposed to the traditional style. You could also use a regular frying pan. Two woks are are need because if you overfill a pan when stir frying, you will cause the ingredients to steam instead of brown and 'fry'. It is important to have room to spread out the ingredients while cooking. For this reason I just cook the 'rice in one pan and the veggies in the other, then combine at the end.

Add the oil, the onions, garlic and carrots to one of the woks/pan, preheated over medium heat. Fry till the onions till soft and translucent.

While the onions, garlic and carrots are cooking, heat the other wok/pan over high heat, add about 1 tablespoon oil. Now add the cauliflower and cook the same as you would the veggies/protein. Spreading out and frying the cauliflower, allowing it to brown some, tossing and allowing to brown again. This will take about 5 minutes on a high heat. (High heat and fast cooking is what keeps it from being soggy. Find a temp on your stove top that works for you.)

Make a well in the center of the cauliflower. Add the beaten egg and stir until it just begins to thicken, but is still wet. Toss the egg throughout the 'rice'. Continue with tossing till the rice is no longer wet. Rice should become nice and fluffy with bits of egg throughout, not large scrambles of it...unless you like it that way. Remove form heat when done and set aside.

NOW back to the pan with the onions: Add the asparagus, sausage to the onion mixture, cooking the meat is done. Add the shrimp last and continue to fry, stirring & tossing the ingredients often. Remember to spread ingredients out evenly in the pan between 'tossing'. This will ensure even browning and NO 'steaming'

Finally, combine the contents of both pans/woks into one pan and toss till evenly mixed.

Serve with garnishes listed below.

Garnish by tossing in the spring onions, cilantro and just a splash of Nước Chấm per serving (or just fish sauce)


Serving Size: 8

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user INSANEBLONDE.