If you don’t know what Paella is, its a delicious rice-based dish from Spain. They put anything from duck, to rabbit in it. It is delicious but can be very high-carb.
What I did is use the same flavorings but did a make over.
This is a low-carb, PLANT-BASED version of the famous Spanish dish. So, I don’t think I can call it “paella” but it was inspired by the dish.
I hope you enjoy it.
This is part of the 5 x 1 challenge. 5 weekday dinners, 1 shopping trip to the supermarket (because how many people enjoy going to the grocery store?)
Read more about it here.
Cauliflower Rice “Paella”
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 4 portobello mushrooms or button mushrooms, chopped
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ bunch asparagus, chopped
- 1 zucchini, chopped small
- small bunch baby spinach
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup vegetable broth or water
- 1 bag Trader Joe’s cauliflower rice (frozen aisle)
- 1 pinch saffron (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- olive oil
- lemon and parsley for garnish
1. First, in a large saute pan, brown the mushrooms in 1 T or two of olive oil. Add the onions. Then, add the peppers.
2. In the middle of the pan, add tomatoes and garlic cloves for 2-3 minutes or starting to get softened.
3. Make a hole in the center, add the tomato paste and the paprika and stir together and cook for about 30 seconds. Then, add the cauliflower rice and water or broth immediately.
4. Add saffron, and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. (This is just to meld flavors together since you don’t have to wait for cauliflower rice to cook). Taste and add more salt if needed.
5. After 10 minutes, add the rest of the veggies- asparagus, zucchini, spinach. Cook another 5 minutes and then let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
6. Top with some parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
