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The humble cauliflower has made a comeback. Health-conscious foodies everywhere are dicing, blitzing and roasting cauli following the new low-carb craze.

For vegetarians and vegans alike, cauliflower has become a common staple cooked in all sorts of unconventional ways. And numerous meat eaters, with Paul McCartney’s  encouragement, have swapped to meat-free Mondays with roasted whole cauli — drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with dried herbs and/or paprika — a popular menu choice. 

Blitzing cauli finely makes it a replacement for couscous or rice. It’s so popular even the rice industry is worried. ‘Cauli rice’ takes three minutes to cook whereas traditional rice can take up to 20 minutes. And there are far fewer carbs.

And blitzing cauli extra finely can make ‘cauli-flour’ for pizza bases. In the USA commercially prepared cauli pizza bases are available frozen. 

Cauli is also great mashed with great dollops of cream and butter to make ‘fauxtatoes’ although the fat content may upset one’s calorie intake.

Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of vitamin K and folate. It also contains fibre, B vitamins, many other vitamins and minerals and only five carbs per 100grams. Cauli is a member of the brassica family that is thought to inhibit some forms of cancers.

Cauli-based feta pizza

The base is not as crisp as a traditional one but it is very tasty. Get the recipe

Cauli, capsicum and coriander fritters

Heat the oil until a faint haze rises. If you’re following a low-carb diet then replace the flour and water with 2 beaten eggs. Get the recipe

Cauliflower cheese soup

This soup can also be cooked in a saucepan but make sure it doesn’t burn on the base. Get the recipe