Kung Pao Cauliflower is a easy to make and extremely flavorful Chinese dish made with cauliflower, loaded with Asian sauce and served with noodles/rice.
Regular Noodles - 100 gms(I used 3 pieces from a 12 piece packet of Inchin's Bamboo Garden's Vegan Noodles)
Water - 2 Cups(Adjust as needed to cook the noodles)
Salt - ½ tsp
Sesame Oil - ½ tsp
For Sauce
Distilled white vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 1 Tbsp
Soy Sauce - 2 Tbsp
Asian hot sauce - ½ Tbsp
Sugar - 1 Tbsp
Salt - ¼ tsp(adjust as needed)
Corn starch - 1 ½ tsp
Water - 2 Tbsp
Ingredients
Sesame / Olive Oil - 2 Tbsp
Cauliflower - ½ Large(Cut into small florets)
Red bell pepper - ½(diced)
Green bell pepper - ½(diced)
Ginger - ½ inch cube(minced)
Garlic - 3 cloves(minced)
Spring Onion - 3(chopped, white and green part separated)
Cashews - 10
Dry Red pepper flakes - ½ tsp
Instructions
First let us cook the noodles. Heat required quantity of water along with ½ tsp salt. Add the noodles and cook until the noodle is fully done. Turn off the flame and drain the water completely from the noodles. Add about ½ tsp of sesame oil to the noodles and toss well until the noodles are coated. This will help the noodles from not sticking to each other.
While the noodles is cooking, we can prepare the sauce. Add all items given under "For sauce" into a small bowl and mix well until combined. Keep aside.
Now, chop all the required veggies and keep aside. Then heat a large pan / wok with oil in medium flame, add the cauliflower and saute for 5 mins until they are half cooked. Transfer the cauliflower to a separate plate.
To the same pan, add the bell peppers and saute for 3 mins until their skins start to blister a little. Now, add the cauliflower back to the pan and continue to saute for a further 5 mins until the cauliflower is almost done.
Now, add the ginger, garlic, white part of spring onion, cashews, red pepper flakes and saute for 2 more mins. Take care not to break the veggies.
Finally, add the prepared sauce, turn the flame to high and saute for about 1 min until the sauce thickens and coats the veggies. Turn off the flame.
Garnish with green portion of spring onion.
Serve hot along with the noodles.
Notes | FAQ
- I used vegetarian noodles along with the cauliflower. You can use any other type of noodle or brown/white rice.- I like my veggies crunchy and saucy. In case you need your veggies more soft and dry, adjust the cooking time accordingly.- I did not have dry red chilli flakes, so could not add. But would highly recommend adding it for the extra spiciness.- The original recipe calls for adding Rice wine vinegar. Since I did not have it in hand, I substituted it with white distilled vinegar. It still tasted good.- Watch out while adding the salt to the sauce. Since you are already adding soy sauce as well, you can adjust the salt quantity as per your taste.Adapted from Eat Good 4 Life