Karen
6/5/2018
10:11:46 AM | |  | |
Hi Laura,
Thank you SO much for jumping in and helping out on the kids' food thread.
You can always be counted on to contribute...and I can't think of a better way to do so right now than through the "Choices for Children" thread you created.
Your recipe for "Broccoli Cauliflower Nuggets" looked so good, I decided to try it out. I did a little tweaking on the recipe to make it easier and maybe a bit more crispy.
Here are the changes I made:- I bought already "riced" broccoli and cauliflower to save time.
- I steamed the broccoli and cauliflower in a top of the stove steamer to try to eliminate some of the moisture. One of the things I've discovered with these "nuggets" or "tots" veggie recipes is that it's very important to remove the excess moisture in the cooked veggies. After steaming, I just let the veggies sit in the steamer pan (the top part with holes in the bottom) and drip...it got some of the moisture out without me having to blot it off on paper towels.
- I just put the whole steamer / pot in the fridge until the next day when I had some time to fool with it.
- I added some additional seasonings...red pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- I added a breading on the outside using coconut flour plus the seasonings.
- I used coconut flour (2 tablespoons) in the veggie mix instead of almond flour because coconut flour is very absorbent...and that helped to eliminate the need to blot out excess moisture from the steamed veggies.
- I decided to fry them rather than bake them to get a crispier finished product.
- I made "fritters" (basically flat things like a small hamburger patty) rather than nuggets because it would require less oil to fry them.
- I used a bit of coconut oil plus about a tablespoon and a half of grass fed butter to get them brown.
They came out great! However...it's important to note that while we CAN eat fried foods and keep it low carb, the kinds of coatings we must use aren't going to produce a perfect finish. It's very difficult to get the browning even...there are just going to be browner spots than others on the coating.
Also be aware that these kinds of low carb flours don't bind really well. That means you have to be careful when flipping the fritters...they tend to be a bit crumbly and will fall apart if you're not careful.
So...that's the "bad news." The good news is the taste!
I had three fritters and used the "Dipping Sauce" recipe for a dip. They were delicious!
As best as I can tell, there are about 5.5 net carbs for three fritters.
I used a cup and a half of each raw cauliflower and broccoli "rice" (instead of the one cup each as the nugget recipe called for) and the recipe will make about six nice sized fritters. See the pic for relative size.
Love,
Karen |
