I get the worst compliments of all time. ‘Oh you’re Asian? I love orange chicken’
-Jo Koy
So I am going to apologize to all the orange chicken lovers, but I had never tried it until a couple of weeks ago…and now I am questioning what life was before it.
The spices, the citrus, the deliciousness, it is AMAZING!
We have long sense established that I am not a huge animal protein consumer, especially for dinner. Because I typically steer clear of meat at night, I am constantly trying to find new ways to convert my favorite protein meals into vegetarian meals.
Ya’ll, orange cauliflower is the best conversion I have made thus far. Cauliflower is a strong vegetable that can be soft or crunchy depending on how you cook it and holds the flavor of anything you add to it; basically it is the best vegetable ever. I not only consumed an entire cauliflower head in one setting, but it was given the thumbs up from my man so you know it is good. It has the perfect nodes of citrus, spice & that delicious take out chinese flavor we all know and love.
Try to cut your florets to even-ish sizes. You want them to be able to bake evenly throughout the cooking process.
How to make the Orange Cauliflower base:
The base for the cauliflower was made with Red Mills Gluten Free Baking Flour but it can easily be made with regular all purpose flour as well. Either way you just want to make sure that you coat all florets completely before adding them to the baking sheet so there is an even breading throughout.
Orange Cauliflower sauce:
You want to first create the “thick base” for the sauce by adding corn starch to water & allowing it to set while you cook. Next you will make the orange sauce, this is made by combining orange zest, coconut aminos, orange juice, vinegar & sugar together. Finally you want to cook your garlic & green onions. After that, combine all of your ingredients to make a wonderfully magical orange sauce!
Allow your cauliflower to thicken up before serving, you want the flavors to fully set in!
If you have it on hand, I would 100% suggest adding white sesame seeds as a garnish, it gives your orange cauliflower the perfect crunch.
Coming from the girl thats Chinese restaurant knows her order by heart, this Orange Cauliflower is up there with the best of the best. You will feel like you ordered take out from home, it doesn’t get much better than that!
ENJOY!
- 1 large cauliflower
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 orange, juiced and zested
- 1/4 cup water
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 5 tbsp vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp ginger powder
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- white sesame seeds for garnish
- green onions for garnish
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets and set aside.
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Into a bowl add water, flour, salt, pepper & garlic powder. Stir to combine.
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Add florets into the bowl and mix until all are evenly coated.
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Onto a baking sheet add florets & bake for 10-12 minutes.
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Into a bowl add coconut aminos, water, sugar, vinegar, orange juice & orange zest. Stir and set aside.
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Grab a smaller bowl and combine corn starch & water. Stir well and set aside.
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Into a large frying pan or wok heat coconut oil. Add sliced green onions, garlic and ginger powder. Continuously stir until becomes fragrant.
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Next add apple cider vinegar and chili peppers.
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To the wok, add your orange juice sauce and bring everything to a boil.
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Add the remaining small bowl of corn starch and water to the wok. Allow sauce to simmer as it thickens.
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When sauce finally thick, add in your baked cauliflower. Coat completely in the sauce.
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To serve: garnish with green onions & white sesame seeds. Enjoy!
is part of the recipe missing?
Oops! Not sure how the instructions got deleted. I added them back in, thank you for the catch!
Orange cauliflower looks great. When do you add the 1/2 t sesame oil? I suspect it’s NB.
Thanks