Sweet and sour cauliflower in sticky sauce, sprinkled with black sesame seeds and spring onion is a perfect meat-free main dish. It can be served as an appetizer or even a side dish, depending on how you like it! It’s also gluten-free and soooo good!
I like cauliflower but I have noticed I don’t cook with cauliflower often! Why?? I really don’t know! I guess it’s usually out of season, expensive, or exported from somewhere which raises the cauliflower price too high!
Depending on where you live, cauliflower can be in season during different times. Because we always see cauliflower in supermarkets it makes us think that it’s always in season. But that’s not the case! For example in South Australia where I live cauliflower is usually in season in September.
Now you might ask why I write this recipe now. It’s because I often find a fairly cheap cauliflower in local markets from local farmers. That’s also a way how I make sure that there are no nasty pesticides used for growing the cauliflower.
Now, I love cooking Asian recipes or Asian-inspired recipes in European or Australian way. So even though cauliflower is not seen in many Asian recipes, cauliflower has been cultivated in the Asian continent for centuries! From there, it has been distributed elsewhere: to India, China, Italy, France, and then the rest of Europe.
I would say this sticky cauliflower recipe is inspired by Chinese cuisine and Asian cusine in general. If you want nut-free, gluten-free, and vegan quick and yummy dinner, I can’t recommend this sweet and sour sticky cauliflower quite enough!
If you are into spicy dishes, you are going to love this sticky cauliflower! I used sriracha sauce to spice it up a little bit! If you don’t feel like spicy food then it’s also ok! You can omit sriracha sauce and make the sauce mild.
How to make this sticky cauliflower in sweet and sour sauce?
Depending on your personal taste, you can prepare the sauce sweeter, spicer, or more sour. I am on a sweeter side! (Would you guess?!)
For the original recipe you will need following:
- Soy sauce. For a gluten-free recipe, use tamari sauce. I love Kikkoman brand! For tamari, I prefer the San-J brand as it’s organic. Use about 1/4 cup.
- Garlic paste. It’s basically ground or minced garlic so if you don’t have garlic paste or can’t find it in a supermarket or an Asian shop, just use 3-4 cloves garlic and mince them! It’s also very helpful to buy a big jar of the garlic paste as for vegan cooking it’s quite common to use garlic a lot. For this recipe, you need about 2 tbsp garlic paste.
- Ginger paste. Here I would recommend the same thing. Buy a big jar of ginger paste you will need it a lot and often! For this recipe, use around 1 tbsp. If you like ginger you can use more but bare in mind that the ginger taste shouldn’t overpower the taste of the whole sauce. If you don’t have a ginger paste, use about 4-5 cm/1.9 inch long piece of ginger and grate it.
- Sriracha sauce. Using sriracha sauce can be tricky sometimes, especially if you don’t know how much you should use to not to destroy the entire dish!! I would say use 1/2 tbsp or 1 tbsp and go from there. Also, make sure that your sriracha sauce really is vegan. Some brands add non-vegan ingredients. If you are not sure, use some other spicy options, such as tabasco.
- Sesame oil. Use about 2 tsp. You can buy it in some supermarkets and most Asian shops.
- Maple syrup. Classic pure and organic maple syrup is the best. I used 1/4 cup for the recipe but don’t be shy to use even more if you want your sauce a little bit sweeter!
- White rice vinegar. Organic white rice vinegar is a must for many Asian-style recipes and it’s a must for this recipe to make a tasty sweet and sour sauce. Use about 2 tbsp.
- Water to thin the sticky sauce (so it’s not too thick and sticky).
- Cornstarch to create the right sticky consistency f the sauce.
To make cauliflower you need:
- Head of a medium to large cauliflower, shredded or cut in bite-size florets.
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Cornstarch
- Chopped fresh spring onion for garnish
- Black sesame seeds for garnish
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More yummy cauliflower recipes:
Cauliflower Rice With Sautéed Mushrooms
Sticky Sweet And Sour Cauliflower
Ingredients
For sticky sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari for gluten-free
- 2 tbp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp sriracha optional
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp white rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp cornstarch
For cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower cut in florets
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- spring onion chopped, for garnish
- black sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190°C/374°F.
- Make the sticky sauce: In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sticky sauce. Stir until all cornstarch is dissolved and there are no lumps visible. Set aside.
- Place all the ingredients for cauliflower in a large container, close with lit. Give it a shake for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Make sure that all the ingredients are well combined and all cauliflower florets are covered in the batter.
- Line the baking tray with a baking paper and transfer the cauliflower on it. Spread on the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
- When the cauliflower is baked, place it on a large frying pan. Add sticky sweet and sour sauce. Mix and cook for the additional 10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Divide the cauliflower into bowls. Sprinkle with chopped spring onion and black sesame seeds.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @writtenbyvegan or use hashtag #writtenbyvegan or share it with your friends and family! You can also rate this recipe below! 🙂
This was delicious! I will definitely make it again and again!
Thank you Megan! I’m glad you like this recipe ❤️