Cauliflower Tempura Bites with Honey Ginger Sriracha Sauce
Cauliflower Tempura Bites are fried till golden brown and tossed with an addicting spicy Honey Ginger Sriracha Sauce. Perfect as a party appetizer, side dish, or meal!
Ingredients
Honey Ginger Sriracha Sauce
- 1/2 cup House of Tsang Ginger Sriracha Sauce
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
Cauliflower Tempura Bites
- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces and at room temperature
- canola oil the amount will depend on the size of your skillet but you want an inch of oil
- 1 and 1/2 cups cake flour, separated
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup ice cubes
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
Instructions
Honey Ginger Sriracha Sauce
- Combine ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened.
- Pour into a small bowel and set aside. Or pour into an airtight container and let it cool to room temperature before covering and putting it in the fridge for another day.
Cauliflower Tempura Bites
- Place a 1/2 cup of cake flour in a ziplock bag. Add the cauliflower and shake until well coated. Dump the coated cauliflower into a bowl and set aside.
- Line a large baking sheet with paper towels for draining and set aside.
- Fill a skillet with canola oil until there is 1 inch of oil. Heat on medium until the temperature reaches 360 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have a deep-fry thermometer, dip the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. If the oil starts bubbling, it’s hot enough. The bubbles will be extremely small and will seem to fizz up to the surface.
- While the oil heats put the egg yolk in a medium-sized bowl along with the ice cold water and mix. Add the ice cubes.
- Add the remaining 1 cup cake flour, and barely mix it. You want a loose lumpy batter with pockets of dry flour visible. It’s better to poke the mixture rather than stir or whisk it.
- Add the sesame oil to the canola oil and allow the temperature to rise back to 360 degrees.
- Dip the cauliflower into the batter and lay it in the hot oil.
- While the cauliflower cooks, dip your fingers into the batter and sprinkle some directly onto each piece of cauliflower.
- Cook for about 2 minutes, until the batter is golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to scoop up the fried loose bits of batter and place them on the paper towels along with the fried cauliflower. They make a great crunchy topping.
- Remove and place the cauliflower on paper towels to drain. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the fried cauliflower bites and repeat until all the cauliflower is fried.
- Place the cauliflower tempura in a large bowl and add the Honey Ginger Sriracha Sauce, mixing until the cauliflower is coated to your liking. Serve alone, with plain rice, or with No-Fry Pineapple Rice Salad.
Notes
This recipe is adapted from a Saveur article "Light as a Feather: How to Make Perfect Tempura".
Cauliflower Tempura Bites with Honey and Ginger Sriracha Sauce was created with this No-Fry Pineapple Rice Salad as the perfect side combo.
There is extra Honey Ginger Sriracha Sauce. I recommend using enough sauce to get a good coat on the tempura and then serve the rest on the side for extra drizzling.
Cook the cauliflower in small batches, 3 to 4 pieces at a time depending on the size of your pan.
Dipping your fingers in the batter and sprinkling it directly on the frying cauliflower is sort of annoying but it really creates a better tempura coat on the cauliflower. It also creates loose bits of batter that fries into a really tasty crunchy topping, like the kind sprinkled on sushi.
If the batter starts to loose its clumpy quality, sprinkle more flour on top of it. I sprinkled more flour on top pretty often, almost between every frying batch.
Add more ice if the batter starts to warm up.