My Grandma Rivas or Mamaw as we called her is one of the most influential women in my lifetime. She wasn’t a huge cook but every so often, when the occasion called for it, she whipped up tamales with her sisters, a special stuffing recipe and a delicious recipe for Spanish Rice. In between those meals, she prepared a mean bowl of Fruit Loops and delicious migas.
While she passed away due to colon cancer several years ago, her memory lives on and I am so grateful she shared her recipe for Spanish Rice with me. Of course, as all abuelitas do, there was no measuring – you just cooked by feel and taste. It has taken me a LONG time to perfect her recipe and I think she’d be proud to know I even made my own tweaks. While Spanish Rice is best cooked as Arroz con Pollo, I’ll save that recipe for another day.
A while ago, I was following the autoimmune paleo diet to help identify food allergies and causes of my eczema. There are a few recipes that just stuck in my repertoire and this is one of them! Plan to serve this as a side along with refried beans, esquites and carne asada or use this as a base for a lighter burrito bowl!
Healthy Latina’s Cauliflower Spanish Rice
- 1/2 cauliflower head chopped finely (I prefer to hand chop but can be done by pulsing in a food processor)
- 1/2 white onion, diced
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 can (8 oz) of tomato sauce (I prefer El Pato hot tomato sauce)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 pepper to taste
- Add vegetable oil to a large pan
- Heat oil on high and sauté onion, add cauliflower and sauté for 5 minutes
- Add tomato sauce and continuously stir
- Add in cumin, garlic powder and onion powder and salt and pepper
- Sauté for 10 minutes, occasionally stirring to ensure the cauliflower cooks evenly
- Sprinkle a little cotija cheese on it and enjoy!
