cauliflower fritti

Let’s just take a moment to admire the wonders of deep frying things like cauliflower. These little fritti are one of my favourite ways to eat a vegetable that is too often eaten plain or covered in cheese. I absolutely love making these, and can’t help but drench them in allioli.

The secret to having perfectly cooked, light and fluffy fritti is to steam the cauliflower before frying, and using sparkling water in the batter. It may sound a little strange, but the sparkling water helps keep the batter light on the insight and crunchy on the outside.

Next time you have a cauliflower in the fridge, be sure to give this a go.

 
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for the fritti

1 head of cauliflower

150g self raising flour

180ml sparkling water

salt & pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 litre vegetable/peanut oil (for frying)

allioli (to dip)

method

  1. Start by removing all the leaves from the cauliflower and chopping off the stem.

  2. Steam the cauliflower until it is soft when pierced with a fork.

  3. Let it cool, then chop it into piece.

  4. Next, heat up the oil in a deep pan to around 180c. You’ll need it to be about 2-3 inches deep, so make sure the pan is not too wide.

  5. Put the flour in a large bowl and season with a good bit of salt and pepper, and the smoked paprika.

  6. Whisk in the sparkling water.

  7. Drop a little batter into your oil to test if it’s hot enough. It should float and have loads of little bubbles forming around it.

  8. Once the oil is ready, coat the chopped cauliflower in the batter and drop one-by-one into the oil.

  9. Let them cook for 2 minutes, then flip over to make sure they are golden brown on both sides.

  10. Remove and let cool on a few pieces of kitchen roll, to soak up the excess oil.

  11. Repeat the process until all your cauliflower is cooked.

  12. Taste and season more if needed.

  13. Eat whilst warm, dipping into allioli as you go.