How about some crispy cauliflower on a rainy day?
My crispy cauliflower is a grilled version but draws inspiration from a childhood favorite of mine. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, cauliflower is a universal favorite in the household. As a child, we used to eat vegetable fritters coated with spiced besan (roasted whole gram flour) batter and deep-fried. Boy! Did they taste heavenly? They would almost always be a part of the grand vegetarian spread or even served as an afternoon snack with some masala chai.
To make this dish, I decided to remove the deep frying. This means you will need an oven for this preparation. Also, I swapped besan for rice flour and included some fine sooji (semolina) for the added crunch. I served it as a snack alongside some oven roasted amaranth crisps. Try this next time for your very quick rainy day fix! Scroll down for the recipe.
Ingredients
- Cauliflower florets (cut into small bite sized portions): 250gm
- Rice flour: ½ cup
- Semolina(sooji): ½ cup
- Red chili sauce (I used a combination of Maggi Hot and Sweet and Sriracha sauce)-2 tablespoons
- Salt and pepper- ½ teaspoon or to taste
- Vegetable oil-1 tablespoon
Instructions
- Blanch the cauliflower florets in salted hot boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook
- Make your rice flour batter by adding ¼ cup warm water to the rice flour and whisking well. Make sure there are no lumps and the batter is thick enough to coat the cauliflower, somewhat thinner than a pancake batter
- Add salt, pepper and red chili sauce to the rice batter and mix well
- Line a baking tray with foil. Dip the florets in spiced rice flour batter one by one followed by rolling them into a shallow bowl with semolina. Make sure the semolina evenly coats the florets making a uniform layer for consistent cooking. Drizzle some oil on the prepared florets
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and roast until the florets are cooked and crispy, about 20-25 minutes. Halfway through the process, I took them out and doused some more chili sauce for a spicier version
- Serve hot as is or with a yogurt/mayo dip on the side. If you are not serving the dish right away, warm it in a preheated oven for 5-7 minutes just before serving
Notes
Calories (per portion)- 88 Nutrition- Protein/Fiber/Vitamins C, K, B6/Folate/Potassium/Magnesium It does wonders for your- Muscles/Gut/Immunity/Heart/Eyes This is “My 3pm Meal”
[kkstarratings]
2 Comments
PJ
August 12, 2017 at 8:59 pmNice. Great cooks think alike. California Pizza Kitchen makes something very similar. Cauliflower shows up at a lot of restaurants these days. You can play with it.
B/w why so many meals?
onewholesomemeal
August 13, 2017 at 10:56 amThanks a lot Apa! Yes, cauliflower is very versatile.
I have tried and categorized the food per the best time to eat them. For example something which is high on sugar and carb is best eaten in the morning so the body burns the sugar through the day and doesn’t store it as fat. Similarly the 9pm meals are lighter. The 10am/3pm meals are quick bites and eaten as a snack.