Korean Gochujang Cauliflower

4.95 from 19 votes

These are coated & battered cauliflower cooked to a crisp coated in a spicy and slightly sweet glaze! The cauliflower can either be baked or fried.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Asian, Fusion, Korean

Servings

Calories 483 kcal

Ingredients

Sauce Ingredients

1-2 tbsp gochujang (korean chili paste) adjust depending on desired spice
1/2 cup room temperature water
2 tbsp maple syrup or other liquid sweetener, adjust according to desired sweetness
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar or distilled white vinegar
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp cornstarch

Cauliflower

1 lb raw cauliflower florets , from 1 medium head
Neutral oil for frying
Sesame seeds and chopped green onions for topping

Batter

2/3 cup all-purpose flour or sub other flour (see notes)
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
1 cup room temperature water

Coating

1-2 cups breadcrumbs adjust as needed

Instructions

Sauce: Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Feel free to adjust to your desired taste.
For the batter: In a bowl, mix the ingredients for the batter until it turns into a smooth, thick consistency.
For the coating: In another bowl or plate, add in the bread crumbs.
One by one, dip each cauliflower in the batter and transfer into the breadcrumbs. Coat well using one hand (this is to avoid messy hands—I usually use one hand for dry and one hand for wet when coating cauliflower).
Press down the bread crumbs on the cauliflower. Set aside once coated.
Repeat this for the rest of the florets until all are coated.
(Baking option below)
Heat a frying pan with enough oil to submerge at least half of the cauliflowers. You can test out the heat of the oil by placing some bread crumbs. If it bubbles and is hot, place the cauliflower florets and cook until golden brown, moving it around on each side every 2 minutes or so.
Once golden brown, set aside on a strainer to drain excess oil or you can put this on a plate with paper towels.
Remove the oil from the pan. In the same pan, place heat over medium. Give the sauce another good mix to make sure the starch doesn't stick at the bottom.
Add in the sauce and leave to simmer over medium heat, mixing constantly until it thickens, around 2 to 3 minutes.
Once the sauce thickens, lower the heat and place the fried/baked cauliflower. Mix to coat in the sauce. I highly recommend to add the cauliflower into the sauce when you're about to eat your cauliflower since they will get soggy and not be as crispy as time passes.
I often like to only coat half of the florets in the sauce and leave the rest as is and dip it in the sauce when ready to enjoy.
*Another option: You can also opt to enjoy the sauce as a dip.
Enjoy while hot! Garnish with some sesame seeds and green onions, if desired.

Baking option

Heat oven to 350F. Bake the cauliflower for 35-40 minutes or until crisp. I recommend brushing these with some oil.
Flip halfway through cooking. Note that these will of course not turn as golden brown as when fried, but still crisp.

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Notes

GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

Since the flour is used here for the batter, you can substitute it with other types of flour to create the mix. If you're gluten-free, you can use GF flour mixes of your choice.
For the breadcrumbs, you can opt to use GF bread crumbs or even desiccated coconut. If using coconut, do note that it'll have a slight coconut-taste. Another good option for coating in replacement of bread crumbs are hemp hearts, which turn out really nutty and have that nice bite!

Sauce as a glaze or dip

You can also opt to enjoy the sauce as a dip by serving the crispy cauliflower as is.

NUTRITIONAL INFO

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