Hot & Sweet Cauliflower

Hot & Sweet cauliflower is an Indo Chinese fusion dish that I made at random with the ingredients available in my pantry without following any particular recipe.Chinese food is very popular among Indians and people have adapted it to such an extent that apart from the specialized fine dining it is available at every nook and corner.Some common dishes like chili chicken,manchurian,chili paneer and chili potatoes are very popular among the masses and almost every restaurant and fast food joint would be seen serving theses.

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Primarily Chinese cuisine is non vegetarian with inclusion of lots of greens as well.The population in India is largely vegetarian hence lots of vegetarian varieties of Chinese food have also evolved which are very scrumptious and are very popular too.

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Hot & Sweet cauliflower that I made was decided at the last moment because of the two reasons…firstly I had one cauliflower lying in my fridge for quiet some time and no body was interested eating it in a regular Indian vegetable style or inside a paratha. Secondly we wanted to take a break from the non veg too.Thus this dish was made which was not unique but a welcome change for everyone in my family and the both the conditions i.e. utilizing cauliflower and giving a break to non veg got easily fulfilled leaving everyone satisfied and happy at the end.So let us now quickly jump to the recipe to see how it was cooked and how it turned out finally.

Recipe

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

For cauliflower fritters

• 1 cauliflower head (approximately 500 gm)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour(maida)
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp MSG (ajinomoto)
• Black pepper powder to taste
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
• Water to form thick batter
• Oil for frying

For the sauce

• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp sliced green chilies
• 2-3 spring onions
• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2-3 tbsp hot red chili sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar or to taste
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp MSG(ajinomoto)
• 2 tbsp oil

Method:

Preparing cauliflower fritters

• Cut the cauliflower head into small florets.
• Wash and steam them till they they are 50 % cooked.
• In a mixing bowl take cornflour,all purpose flour and mix together.
• Season the above mix with salt,black pepper,soy sauce and ginger and garlic paste.
• Mix in water to prepare a batter thick enough to coat the cauliflower florets.
• Heat oil in a skillet and deep fry cauliflower florets coated in the batter till golden in color.Drain them on an  absorbent paper.
  

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Preparing the sauce

• Slice the spring onion stems and bulbs and thinly slice the leaves.
• In a wok heat oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add chopped ginger,garlic and chilies and give it i quick stir.This is to be done on high heat.
• Add vinegar,soy sauce and hot chili sauce and mixing well cook on high heat for 1 minute.
• Add sugar and salt to taste along with little water.Cook for another minute.
• Add in the sliced stalks sliced bulb of the spring onions into the sauce.
• Roll in the fried cauliflower fritters in the sauce evenly and turn off the heat.
  

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• Garnish with chopped spring onion greens and serve hot along with stir fried noodles or rice and ENJOY………………………………………………….

Tips & Tweaks:

• The size of the florets should be neither too small nor too big.It should be bite size.
• The dish can be served as an appetizer as well as in the main course along with rice or noodles.
• If you want to have curry then you may add water and adjust the seasonings as per taste and can add little cornflour slurry to thicken the curry.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking…………………………………………………………………..