Tortillas, no egg white = holy grail = done !
Well, I’ve done it. I used to make the cauliflower tortillas with egg whites. After a fellow opti person who shall remain unidentified (Annie) reminded me about agar-agar I’ve been perfecting this recipe ever since. In all seriousness, this isn’t your regular loaf of bread (I’m working on that too), they are small solid round cauliflower bread bites you can load up with other tasty stuff. They freeze well and hold well, they even bend in the case of the tex-mex feast I did today. I’m pretty happy with them. I chose not to grill them on a pan so they could be sort of folded for the tex-mex feast meal, but you can do this and it gives them a crispier inside.
Don’t be disappointed if your first batch doesn’t work out, keep trying, they are a little fiddly, but when you get the techniques, you can whip them up fairly easily. Good Luck ! They are worth it for sure !
- 1 medium-large head of cauliflower (approx. 6 cups when riced)
- 1 cup of stock
- 1 tsp favourite dry herbs (oregano, basil, cumin, paprika etc.)
- 3 tbs agar-agar
- 1/2 cup cold water + 2 tbs extra
- Spray oil
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- In a small blender or bowl using a stick blender, mix together 1/2 cup COLD water and 3 tbs agar-agar. Blend for five minutes. The aim is for them to have an egg white consistency. Place bowl in fridge to let them chill. After five minutes, get them out again, and blend for a further five minutes and place back in the fridge to settle.
- In the meantime, trim the cauliflower, cut it into small pieces and pulse in a food processor in batches until you get a couscous-like consistency. The finer the better.
- Place the cauliflower in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, then stir and microwave again for another 2 minutes. Place the cauliflower in a fine cheesecloth or thin tea towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, being careful not to burn yourself. Dishwashing gloves are suggested as it is VERY HOT. This will leave you with approx. 2 1/2 cups of the cauli rice once the water has all been drained.
- To the cauliflower "dough" add your herbs/spices/seasonings and 5 tbs of the agar-agar. Mix thoroughly. Use your hands to shape 6 small "tortillas" on the baking paper.
- Bake for 10 minutes, carefully flip each tortilla, and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until completely set. Place tortillas in the fridge on a flat tray to activate the agar-agar. The baking process activates the agar-agar.
- Heat a medium-sized frypan on medium. Place a baked tortilla in the pan, pressing down slightly, and brown for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- As there is a fair bit of technique involved, don't be disappointed if they don't work the first time, Keep trying, sticking close to the recipe. I cooked this recipe four times, so I know that it does work well. Give it a go !
- This is a US based scoring system, so notes fibre as a sub category of carbs, so you need to minus fibre to get the total carb count for the Australian & NZ calculation
Davina
November 14, 2016
I don’t think the stock is in the method – i assume the cauli rice is microwaved in it. Also, I live in a remote town with expensive postage, does IGA or Coles ever stock agar-agar so I could order it through them? I’m excited about the tortillas and tostadas!