This recipe was originally published in the award-winning cookbook Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds by Hetty Lui McKinnon (Knopf, 2023). Reprinted here with permission.
You can purchase Tenderheart here [1]
Ingredients:
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 head of cauliflower (about 1lb/900g), stem trimmed, and cut into florets
- Sea salt and black pepper
- ⅔ cup (75 g) chickpea flour (besan)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 small garlic clove, grated
- 14 ounces (400g) extra-firm tofu, sliced into ¼ -inch (5-6 mm) thick slices
- 2 Persian (mini) cucumbers, cut into ¾ -inch (2 cm) chunks
- 4 jammy or medium-boiled large eggs, halved
- Handful of bean sprouts
- Handful of crispy fried shallots/onion
- 1 lime, quartered
Sweet Peanut Sauce:
- ½ cup (135 g) creamy peanut butter
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 ½ tablespoons kecap manis
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Method:
- Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and heat for 15 seconds. Working in batches, add the cauliflower florets, making sure not to overcrowd the pan, and fry for 8-10 minutes, turning every few minutes, until charred and tender. Remove from the pan and season with sea salt and black pepper.
- Scatter the chickpea flour onto a large plate and add the garlic powder or garlic, ½ teaspoon of sea salt and season with black pepper. Stir to combine. Place each tofu slice in the chickpea flour mixture and toss to coat on both sides.
- Wipe out the pan and place again over medium-high heat. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and, working in batches, add the tofu slices and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside. When cool, cut each tofu slice into triangles.
- To make the sweet peanut sauce, place a small saucepan over medium heat and all the ingredients. Add ¾ cup (180ml) of water and whisk until smooth and combined. The sauce should be the consistency of thickened cream; if the sauce is still too thick, add another ¼ cup (60ml) of water and keep whisking until smooth. Remove from the heat. The sauce will thicken over time, so if you aren’t using it straight away, add a tablespoon or so of water to loosen it up again.
- To serve, place the cauliflower, tofu, cumber, egg, bean sprouts, crispy fried shallots/ onions and lime quarters on a plate. Serve with the peanut sauce on the side or drizzle over the top.