Baked Cauliflower Bites

Recipe: Baked Cauliflower Bites

Baked Cauliflower Bites  is a delicious, crispy starter or appetizer dish. Instead of frying the batter coated cauliflower florets, bake them to make them healthier and less oily. Serve them with any sauce of your choice. Granted, the deep fried ones taste so much crispier than baked ones. But, I like to make the baked version for hubby and me as we sometimes tend to make a meal out of it.Totally guilt free and easy to make. If you like, make a bit more sauce and enjoy the cauliflower with some rice or noodles. I prefer having them on their own.

 

Sharing Baked Cauliflower Bites Recipe With Shhh Cooking Secretly

It is winter time in the Northern Hemisphere which means lots of fresh winter vegetables are available.  Greens, roots, cauliflower, cabbages, peas, etc. are readily available. The theme suggested by Kalyani for this month is Seasonal Vegetables. We had to cook a dish using any seasonal veggies available in the area we live in. If I were in Mombasa at this moment, it would have been difficult to get a seasonal veggie because it is the hot season there. Here in Canada, as winter approaches we get cauliflower, cabbages, spinach, kale, leek, celery, carrots, beet, Brussel sprouts, winter squash, turnips, rutabaga,  etc. Snow white, tender cauliflower is what tempted me to prepare this dish for the theme.

Redoing An Old Post

I had first posted baked cauliflower way back on 27/08/2018. Over time I have added other flours to the plain flour to make the coating a bit more crispier. Have sometimes used other ready made sauces to go with the baked cauliflower. Decided to share this redone post with Shhh Cooking Secretly group along with the recipe of the Hot and Sweet Sauce.

 

Some Recipes Using Winter Vegetables That You May Like

 

Some Sauce Suggestions

Depending on the sauce and which type you make the baked cauliflower here are some suggestions. Can use either store bought  or home made sauces. For today,  I am sharing a hot and sweet sauce that I made to go with the baked cauliflower bites.

• buffalo sauce which usually is made using hot sauce, melted butter, honey and spices.
• marinara or pasta sauce. Add parmesan and herbs to the batter for coating the cauliflower.
• BBQ sauce.  It usually has ketchup, hot sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, molasses and spices.
• Tandoori sauce – yogurt based with spices.
• sweet and sour sauce – made with ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, honey or sugar, cornstarch slurry.
• ranch or blue cheese dressing.
• Tahini dressing.
• Mayonnaise with some spices.
• Garlic Sauce. Mixture of mayo and cream cheese with herbs and spices.
• Chilli sauce or dipping sauce. Made with garlic, scallion, soy sauce, oil, vinegar, sugar and red chilli flakes.
• Green Chutney. Made from fresh coriander, mint, green chillis, ginger and spices.

 

Ingredients Required For Baked Cauliflower  Bites

For Baked Cauliflower

Cauliflower

Choose a fresh and almost blemish free cauliflower head. Remove the green leaves, stalk. Separate the cauliflower florets. Don’t break them into very small pieces. Leave the florets a bit big. Soak them in water for 10 minutes. This will help to remove dirt and worms if there are any. Wash the florets and allow them to dry a bit on a clean towel. I weighed the cauliflower florets without the green stalks.

All Purpose Flour

We need for coating the cauliflower. Also known as plain flour or maida.

Rice Flour

Makes the cauliflower florets a bit more crispier. We will be mixing the all purpose and rice flours together.

Milk

If you don’t want to use milk then replace it with water or stock of your choice.

Salt

Add according to your taste.

Onion Powder

Add some for flavour. Minced or chopped onion makes the batter too watery. So best to use powder.

Garlic Powder

Add according to your taste.

Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder

Add some for colour and a bit of flavour. If you don’t have any then add some paprika powder.

Pepper Powder

I have use black pepper powder.

Baking Soda

Optional. If using any add only scant ¼ tsp.

 

For The Hot And Sweet Sauce

Soy Sauce

Use any soy sauce of your choice, light or dark.

Rice Vinegar

I like the mild flavour of rice vinegar. If you don’t have some, add any vinegar of your choice.

Sesame Oil

Adds a subtle smoky flavour. So use it if you have any.

Water | Stock

We need 1 cup of either plain water or any liquid stock. I used vegetable stock.

Maple Syrup

Can replace the maple syrup with honey or brown sugar.

Chilli Sauce

Any ready or homemade chilli sauce of your choice.

Ginger

Minced ginger, we will add about 1 tsp.

Garlic

Peeled and finely chopped or minced. We will be using 1 tsp.

Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder

For colour and a bit of flavour. If you don’t have Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder, then add some paprika powder.

Pepper Powder

Add according to your taste. Freshly cracked is recommended.

Salt

Add according to your taste. Remember, soy sauce tend to be a bit salty.

Cornstarch

To thicken the sauce. We will mix 1 tablespoon of it with ¼ cup water or liquid stock to make a slurry.

Oil

Any oil of your choice. I have used sunflower oil. We need some to stir fry the ginger and garlic.

 

Topping

Sesame Seeds

Use white, black or a mixture of sesame seeds. Toast them lightly in a pan over medium heat or in the microwave for 1 minute.

Spring Onion

Chop one to two stalks of spring onion (scallion), both the green and white part.

 

 

 

 

 

Pin For Later

 

A Small Request:

If you do try this recipe then please either

• add a comment below,
• send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
•  tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram