Serves 6
2 heads cauliflower
1 carton buttermilk
Flour mix
150g rice flour
120g tapioca flour
150g potato starch
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 litres neutral oil for deep frying
Sticky sauce
250g minced ginger
200g minced garlic
100g finely diced spring onion (white part only)
100g fresh chilli minced (seeds included if you like it hot)
3 Tbsp neutral oil
400g castor sugar
300ml water
600g glucose syrup
500ml gluten free soy sauce
350ml rice wine vinegar
Tomato powder (optional)
3 tomatoes finely sliced
Method
For sticky sauce
Sautee ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli in oil until translucent.
Add the sugar, glucose, water and soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
Take off heat and add in the rice vinegar. This will make more than enough sticky sauce, but it will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to a month.
For the cauliflower
Cut cauliflower into walnut-size florets and marinate in buttermilk for 2-6 hours.
Mix all the ingredients for the flour mix together.
Shake excess buttermilk off florets and toss in flour mix, ensuring it is totally covered in flour. Do this in small batches
Heat oil in a deep pot until it reaches 180degC.
Gently add cauliflower into pot in small batches, do not overcrowd the pot.
Cook until golden brown — about 4 minutes.
Place in a large bowl and toss with 4 tablespoons of sticky sauce, put in a serving dish and dust with 1 teaspoon tomato powder (optional). Serve with aioli.
Tomato powder
Dehydrate for 12 hours at 55degC (or until completely dry), grind in a spice grinder until it’s a fine powder. Store in a dry airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
• Recipe provided by Wanaka's FuDog head chef John Menzies. Recipe requested by Carole Wadsworth.
If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, Dunedin, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
