Gochujang cauliflower

The recipe I followed calls these "Korean inspired", presumably to evade accusations of cultural appropriation.

Ingredients

• 1 cauliflower
• 5 tbsp plain flour
• 5 tbsp cornflour
• salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• vegetable oil

Sauce

• 3 tbsp Gochujang sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled + finely chopped
• 1/2 thumb of fresh ginger, peeled + finely chopped
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar

Method

1. Break up the cauliflower into florets. Then combine the plain flour, cornflour, a large pinch of salt, baking powder and 1/2 a cup of water in a large mixing bowl. Add the florets and stir until they’re coated in the batter.

2. Add enough vegetable oil to a wok on a medium heat until the oil is about 1cm deep in the pan. When the oil is hot, carefully add the cauliflower florets - in batches if necessary - and fry for 3-5 minutes until they begin to brown, turning occasionally so they cook on all sides. You want to avoid overcooking the cauliflower and they should still have a good crunch to them. Then transfer the cauliflower to kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil.

3. Remove the oil from the wok and wipe it clean. Then combine all of the sauce ingredients in the wok and heat it through on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Next stir in the cauliflower until they’re coated in the spicy sauce.

4. To serve, top the cauliflower bites with sesame seeds and sliced spring onion.

Notes

This recipe needs no tweaking. I think I made the batter too thin, but that was probably just an error on my part.

I made sticky jasmine rice to go with this, and an asian salad, but one or the other would be fine too (the rice!).