Cauliflower Pakora (or as I like to call it – Vegan Popcorn Chicken!)

 

A short update on the gluten challenge – I did the 90 days and got my blood-work done. The tests came back negative for Celiac Disease. Initially we planned on doing a biopsy as well, but that’s just not feasible at the moment, so since we already know I am gluten intolerant  I’ll be avoiding gluten again.

Now…Dinner tonight was one of our favorite not so healthy meals…cauliflower pakora (an Indian dish,) which reminds us of popcorn chicken!
Pakora

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chickpea (garbanzo) flour (milling dried chickpeas works)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1.5 cups of water
• 1 large head of cauliflower chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 large onion diced
• 2-6 cups of oil for frying (I use olive oil)

Directions:

• Blend together all ingredients except for the cauliflower, onion, and oil. The batter should be smooth, and slightly thick.
• Stir in the chopped cauliflower and diced onion until coated with batter

• Heat the oil in a heavy pan to 375*F (We use a wok with a couple of inches of oil in it.)
• Fry in batches for about 4-5 minutes, until golden.

• Removed to a paper towel lined bowl or plate to drain.
• Serve hot with optional chutney like sauce (recipe below.)

Chutney (may bear very little resemblance to actual chutney since I’ve never had it, and sort of made this up randomly.)

Ingredients: 

• 1 half cup of apricot preserves (check the ingredients for any ingredients you might need to avoid)
• 1-2 teaspoons of juice from canned or jarred jalapenos. (optionally include a few bits of diced jalapeno)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• dash of powdered ginger

Directions: 

• Combine all ingredients thoroughly and serve as a dipping sauce for pakora

The pakora (vegan popcorn chicken) works great in a big bowl shared during a movie or party. Stay tuned for how to use cauliflower as a buffalo wing substitute!

Creamy Roasted Broccoli Soup

So pretty in a jar, ready to share with friends!

In the last post I said that I thought the roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower (or either alone) would make a good soup. Here’s the yummy recipe I made. I was in a hurry so didn’t take a lot of pictures (in fact I only took one, of the soup in a jar ready to go to our friends house for dinner!) There weren’t any leftovers either 🙂

Ingredients:

• 8c of previous recipe fully prepared (Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower)
• 4c nut milk (I used almond)
• 3/4c raw cashews
• 1/4c sugar (I use raw sugar)

Directions:

• This works best in a Vita-Mix or other powerful blender, but if you don’t have one, you can add the ingredients to the liquid more slowly.
• Put the Roasted Broccoli and nut milk in the blender and puree on high until smooth
• Add the cashews and sugar and blend again until smooth.
• If you have a Vita-mix, your soup is now nice and warm and ready to eat!
• If you don’t have a Vita-mix, pour your soup into a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until warmed through.

This made 2 quarts of soup, and 4 of us finished it as a light dinner with salad. It tastes very different from traditional cream of broccoli soup in a good way!

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Roasted to sweet goodness!

A friend of mine brought over a full grocery bag of fresh broccoli and cauliflower the other day, and so I decided to make a recipe I came up with the last time I had an abundance of fresh broccoli! The last time, I figured this out because I’d also had a lot (like 20#!) of cherry tomatoes that were starting to go soft, and I’d roasted them, so I figured why not try roasting broccoli? Now broccoli and cauliflower are closely related, so mixing them seemed to be just fine. The amount I had filled two 9″x13″ baking pans, and could easily be halved. I do plan on trying to make a blended broccoli soup with the leftovers, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

Ingredients:

• 3# of broccoli and/or cauliflower florets
• 1 head of garlic coarsely chopped
• 1/4c olive oil
• 1t salt
• 1t pepper
• 1/4c lemon juice
• 1c nutritional yeast
• 1/2c (or more!) of any one or combination: slivered almonds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds (optional but gives a nice crunch, and I like to include nuts or beans in most recipes to give it more substance)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425*
• Wash and trim the broccoli and cauliflower florets, then dry thoroughly. If they are wet they’ll steam and not end up with the crunchy roasted texture.
• Toss the broccoli and cauliflower florets with the chopped garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper
• Spread the broccoli and cauliflower floret mixture in baking dishes in a single layer. You don’t want to stack the florets as they won’t roast well. Use multiple pans if necessary.
• Roast in a 425* oven for 20 minutes
• Toss the roasted broccoli and cauliflower with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and nuts or seeds

I like it as is, or topping a baked potato. I think it would make a good soup as well. It really gives the broccoli and cauliflower a different flavor than the usual boiling or steaming does. Even stir frying doesn’t match this. I hope you enjoy this recipe. Please share you comments!

Chopped and ready to be prepared for roasting!