Sweet Sour Cauliflower

This recipe is both strong yet soft, sour yet sweet but not the typical "sweet and sour". You have to taste it!  It is also one of those recipes that work both in cold as in warmer times. If you are in love with asian food you most probably will love the experience this dish brings you.

The taste range of this dish comes naturally from its variety of ingredients so you better hurry up at your asian market!

Prerequisites

• You need a big pot that can take the whole cauliflower. If you only have small pots you can try to e.g. cut the cauliflower in quarters.
• Make sure to cook the rice in time depending on the choice of rice you have made: I love to add Basmati Rice to this dish

Ingredients

• 1 Cauliflower
• 300g Broccoli
• 1 Lemongrass
• 1/2 Lemon
• 2 Chilis
• 75g Edamame Beans (Wakame)
• 1 Red Sweet Pepper
• 2 huge Cloves of Garlic
• Coriander (optional)
• Sesame seeds (optional)
• A bunch of Spring Onions
  
  
• 50ml Soy Sauce
• 85ml thick Mushroom Sauce (or thick Teriyaki Sauce)
• 20ml Rice Vinegar
• 2tbsp Syrup (e.g. Rice Syrup)
• 1 thumb-sized Ginger
• 1tbsp Starch
• 2tbsp Flour
  
  
• Rice (as much as you want)

In case you need the recipe glutenfree: Make sure to use glutenfree Sauces and glutenfree Flour 👍

Recipe Instructions

Even though this recipe sounds complex due to its number of ingredients it actually comes with ease of preparation.

Prepare the Cauliflower

1. Boil as much water in the pot such that you could fit the cauliflower in
2. Put the whole cauliflower in - upside down and boil for 3 minutes
3. Take the cauliflower out and refresh it by pouring cold water over it
4. Cut away the florets by cutting near the stem such that you have many little florets in a bowl
5. Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon
6. Add the vinegar, the flour and the starch
7. Add half of the soy sauce (so 25ml)
8. Add the mushroom (or teryaki) sauce
9. Add half of the syrup
10. Cut the ginger, the chilis and the garlic into small pieces and add them as well
11. Make sure that the end result is a cauliflower bowl soaked with a semi-thick sauce
12. Put all of it into a oven-safe container and bake it for 22 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.
13. Your sour cauliflower should be perfectly fine now. Just let it soak a bit more in its sauce whilst we prepare the dish.

Let's get the Wok started

Now having our sour cauliflower there waiting for us we will add it to our dish later - directly on the plate. First we need to prepare the other ingredients in a Wok (or any pan of your choice).

1. Cut the onion into quartered slices
2. Add the cutted onion slices in the pan with some oil and braise it lightly for 2 minutes
3. Add the broccoli to the pan and heat it up on low level for a minute
4. Mix it up with the the remaining half of the soy sauce (25ml) and a pinch of salt
5. Cut the lemongrass in very thin pieces, then add it to the rest
6. Cut the red sweet pepper in medium big pieces and heat it alltogether for 2 more mins on medium level
7. Pour the rest of the syrup in the pan now and stir it
8. Finally: Add de Edamame Beans to the mix, stir and heat on high level for 1-2 more minutes (2-3mins on high level if they are frozen)
9. Done. Let's start serving it.😋
10. Fill your plate with the wok mix and add rice and the sweet-and-sour cauliflower to it.
11. As the final step add a bit of sesame oil, spring onions, coriander and sesame seeds on top 😍

Additional information

• You can also put the lemongrass as one piece to the dish and such that it provides some taste only. Then you could remove it afterwards before serving.
• Many people think that only the white florets are edible. In fact the whole cauliflower is edible. So dont throw away the hard part but e.g. make Cauliflower Noodles out of it.