Why the humble cauliflower packs powerfully nutritious punch
The vegetable is gluten-free and diabetic-friendly, with a low glycaemic index. So why don't we eat more of it, asks Jeanette Wang
Imagine eating bangers without mash or curry without rice: palatable, but tough. As popular and effective low-carb diets are, the truth is a meal without a starchy carb - rice, noodles or potatoes - often doesn't satisfy.
Serene Loong, who describes herself as "in my late 30s with middle-aged metabolism", knows the feeling well. Tired of not fitting into her clothes, in 2010 she embarked on a low-carb diet and lost 10kg in three months. But once she reintroduced carbs to her plate, "the weight came back with a vengeance" and the scale returned to 58kg.
Cauliflower is very versatile and can be treated like a piece of protein
"To restrict certain foods like mashed potatoes or rice serves to make us want it more," says Loong. "So I thought, why not make mash or rice from the stuff you're supposed to eat more of anyway, such as vegetables?"
Scouring the internet for recipes, she eventually found an alternative: cauliflower. Chopped, cooked and blended with a bit of cream cheese or butter, the cruciferous vegetable resembles and tastes like mashed potatoes - but with fewer calories and fat, and about a third less carbs.
The only trouble was preparing and cooking the cauliflower mash took at least 20 minutes. Taking inspiration from instant mashed potatoes, Loong decided to develop a similar product using cauliflower.
