Low Carb Chilli With Cauliflower Rice

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At least once a week I make this low carb chilli. It is easily the family favourite.  Pre the low carb diet we always loved our chilli with cannellini beans and generally I would make some sort of bread, preferably cornbread, to soak up the sauce. Now we use cauliflower rice under the sauce to soak it up and include fresh vegetables on top. The dish is still comforting but is now light on the stomach and healthy. It is hard to hide our smug smiles when we are eating when we know something so yum can also be healthy.

Low Carb Chilli With Cauliflower Rice

Prep: 25 mins  Cooking time: 15 mins  Total: 40 mins  Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 500 gms beef mince
• 1  onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground chilli (this is quite mild to suit the youngest in our family
• 1 1/2 cups of passata (a tomato puree)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 medium cauliflower

Method

1. Dice the onion, celery and carrot and cook on a low heat in some olive oil until soft. If you can, take your time with this step. You want to get as much sweetness and flavour out of those veg as you can.
2. Turn up the heat a little and add the mince to brown. Make sure you break up the lumps. This is where I add the salt which helps the meat to caramelise a little adding even more flavour. If you want to play it safe you could cook the mince separately from the vegetables to save burning them but I never have the time.
3. Now add your spices and pepper cooking them for a minute or so to lose the rawness and help them develop that nice warm rounded flavour.
4. Add your thyme, don’t bother taking the leaves off the stalk just throw in the whole thing and fish it out at the end, or not.
5. Add your passata and tomato sauce. This will ‘deglaze the pot’. Check that the mixture is not too dry. If need be, add more passata or if you are trying to keep the carbs low add a little stock or water.
6. While this is simmering for a few minutes break up you cauli and pulse it in a food processor until it looks like rice or couscous. Add this to a microwave safe container and cook for 5 minutes on high. When it is finished stir through a good drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper.
7. You are done! It is time to build your chilli tower. Cauli rice on the bottom, then a good dollop of the chilli mince. On top of that, I like to add a small amount of grated cheese, some cucumber and radish chopped into batons, my own *guacamole and some Greek yoghurt. Oh and not forgetting a good splash of Frank’s Hot Pepper Sauce. A little sliced fresh chilli would also be a tasty addition.

Tips

1. Taste as you go to determine if you need more or chilli.
2. I use a tomato sauce that is sweetened with stevia and therefore doesn’t contain buckets and buckets of sugar. These sauces seem to contain a spice blend which I have given up trying to replicate.
3. If you don’t eat dairy just leave it out. I have used almond milk yoghurt in the past and it is just as delicious.

*Guacamole recipe – one ripe avocado mashed with the juice of half a lemon, 1 tbsp coconut cream, 1tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper. What version of chilli have you made your own?