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Gobi Manchurian

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A rich and spicy recipe that serves 4; feel free to halve the amount of chilli.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower, broken into florets

For the sauce

1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 green chillies, chopped (1 of these reserved for garnishing)
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth, plus 1/4 cup extra for making a cornflour paste
1 heaped tbsp cornflour

For the batter
1 cup flour
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli paste
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Enough cold water to make a really thick batter

Method

For the cauliflower

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, turn off the heat, add the cauliflower and allow it to blanch for 10-15 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.

For the sauce

1. Heat a nonstick pan over a medium-low heat and dry-sauté the onion and scallions gently until the onion is just turning translucent.
2. Add the ginger, one of the chillies, and the garlic and continue to fry until aromatic.
3. Stir in ketchup, tomato purée, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, black pepper, and vegetable broth, and bring to the boil. Allow to cook together for a minute or two.
4. Mix the cornflour with enough water to make a smooth paste, and stir in. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens and is glossy, and remove from the heat.

For the batter
1. Mix all the ingredients, apart from water, together in a large bowl.
2. Add water a little at a time, whisking with a fork, until you have a thick batter that doesn’t drop easily from the back of a spoon.

For the cauliflower

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Dip the cauliflower florets into the batter one at a time, and place on a parchment- or silicone-lined baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes at, turning once.
3. When all florets have been baked, reheat the sauce and add the battered florets to it, mixing them in carefully to avoid breaking the batter. Allow them to warm through in the sauce (about 4 minutes).
4. Serve with rice, garnished with the reserved chopped green chilli.

Sticky BBQ Cauliflower Bites

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A simple budget recipe that’s a great way to sneak vegetables into those who are somewhat reluctant to eat them, but also a real treat for everyone else.

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1-1.25 cups water
1 large head cauliflower, cut into evenly sized florets
1 cup barbecue sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Lay a silicone mat or parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt and pepper together.
3.Whisk the water into the flour, starting with 1 cup and adding extra if needed. You should have a thick, pancake-like batter without lumps.
4. Dip each cauliflower floret into the batter to coat evenly, before shaking off excess. Place the florets on baking tray. Reserve any remaining batter.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, and then flip. Cover any gaps in the batter with the reserved batter, and bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Remove cauliflower from oven, brush with barbecue sauce, flip and brush the other sides. Bake for 10 minutes more.
7. Serving suggestion: mashed potato and a suitable-for-vegan dip.

Cauliflower with mushroom and red wine gravy, sauteed artichokes, kale and scallions.

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For the cauliflower
1 head of cauliflower
1T of coconut oil
1/2t of coarse sea salt
1 dash of liquid smoke

Stem the cauliflower to remove the leaves and all but the base of the core.
Set the cauliflower up on its stem and cut four slices about 1″ in thickness (with a smaller head, this will likely leave you with two good cuts and a lot of bits and pieces which you can use for other thing).
Preheat your oven to 375F.
In a pan that retains heat well, bring the oil, salt and smoke to heat on high (e.g, an iron frying pan).
Add the cauliflower and reduce to medium high.
Brown on both sides (2-3 minutes each side — be careful not to scorch the cauliflower).
Remove the cauliflower and add to a lightly greased oven pan.
Bake for about 8 minutes each side turning once (it should be firm but chewy — don’t over cook).

For the artichokes
1T of coarse olive oil
1/4t of sea salt
1/2 cup of minced scallion
3/4 of artichoke hearts, quartered
1 cup of chopped kale
1T of white wine, lemon juice or other substitute to deglaze the pan
1T of nutritional yeast
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Bring the oil and salt to heat on medium-high.
Saute the scallions for 2 minutes.
Add the artichokes. Saute for 3 minutes.
Add the kale. Saute for 5 minutes.
Add the wine and deglaze.
Remove from heat.
Toss with the nutritional yeast.

For the gravy
1T of olive oil
1/4t of coarse sea salt
1/2 cup of minced scallions
1T of fresh thyme
1T of minced garlic
1T of other green herbs (or bouquet garni)
1 cup of red wine (burgundy, gamay, pinot noir or similar — it should be fruity with good body)
Optional: 2T of vodka or cognac (if you want to burn off the alcoholl — this also makes for a richer gravy)
1 cup of vegetable stock
2t of arrowroot powder dissolved in 2T of water
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Bring the olive oil and salt to heat on medium high.
Add the scallions and saute for 2 minutes.
Add the thyme, garlic and other herbs saute for 1 minute.
Add the mushrooms and saute for about 5-8 minutes until they start to weep.
When the pan has browned a bit, add the wine (and spirits if you’re using them, and then light).
Add the stock.
Reduce on medium-low by about 1/3.
Whisk the arrowroot and water, and then add slowly to the pan stirring continuously until your gravy thickens.
Remove from heat.

Plating
Reserve about 2T of scallion greens thinly sliced on the diagonal and 2-3 stems of thyme for the garnish.