Vegetarian imitation of a meat based Chinese dish is called as- Orange Cauliflower. It's sweet and spicy, tangy and yummy! One of the fusion dishes you will love to eat. Can be served over rice or noodles or can be eaten as is.

It was Chinese night at my house the other day and my husband bought a topic “A lot of my friends swear by some of the Chinese dishes, but we cant have most of them since they are non-vegetarian. I wonder how the taste would be. I had a light bulb moment and I promised myself that I would not relax until I make a vegetarian version of any dish in the world. When it comes to Chinese entrees my belief is that the taste lies in various sauces, irrespective of the protein being used. Most of the recipes can be substituted with a tofu or a cauliflower or even cottage cheese (panner) without compromising on the taste. One such dish I am very proud of recreating a vegetarian version is the Orange Cauliflower-a dish that hits your notes perfectly with a little tangy, a little sweet, a little savory, a little spicy and a whole lot of succulent. My husband would now be able to swear by his new found experience and praise me in front of his friends.

We Indians love Indo-Chinese. Long time ago when I was a teenager , I used to eat them at least once a week buying from the street vendor. They were so heavenly! Well now I make it myself. But sometimes we need changes to the taste buds and here is one such dish re- created to suite the American-Chinese fusion taste.

Video of making Orange Cauliflower

We don’t need any fancy ingredients in this dish. Its basic pantry ingredients with some orange juice is all we need to make this yummy dish.

I first chopped the cauliflower into florets and gave a good rinse with water. Then I made the batter using all purpose flour and corn starch.

Added the cauliflower in the batter the rolled then rolled it in bread crumbs. Rolling it with bread crumbs gives the texture and crunchiness to the dish.

I then fried this in oil until golden brown and crisp.

Now comes the interesting part of the dish!!! Making the orange sauce or glaze. I used the fresh squeezed orange juice but you can use any packed juice as well. Just mix orange juice, maple syrup (Optional- you can skip it if you want your dish to be spicy) red chilly flakes, ginger and garlic paste, soya sauce, rice vinegar.

Add this to the hot pan and then add the corn starch slurry. Cook for a minute or 2 then add the fried cauliflower!! Give it a good toss in the sauce and its all ready to be served!!! So yum!!

If you are looking for more asian recipes, you may like the below
Pineapple fried rice – Thai
Buddha bowl – Cambodian
General Tso’s Tofu – Chinese
Spinach Lentil soup – Indian
Pan fried Momos – Tibet
Fresh spring roll – Vietnamese
Sesame Garlic Ramen– Japanese
Mie Goreng – Indonesian

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Vegetarian imitation of a meat based Chinese dish is called as- Orange Cauliflower. It's sweet and spicy, tangy and yummy! One of the fusion dishes you will love to eat. Can be served over rice or noodles or can be eaten as is.

• frying pan

For the cauliflower

• 1 Medium Cauliflower Florets
• 1/4 Cup All purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp Corn starch
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Bread crumbs
• 2 cups Oil for frying

Orange Glaze/Sauce

• 1/2 Cup Orange juice Fresh squeeze or canned
• 2 Tbsp Maple syrup Optional
• 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Corn starch
• 2 Tbsp Water

1. Prep the cauliflower: Cut the cauliflower into florets and rinse well
2. Make batter: In a bowl, add all purpose flour, corn flour and water and mix well until it turns into a smooth, thick consistency.
3. Bread crumbs: In another bowl, add in the bread crumbs
4. Coating the Cauliflower in batter: Evenly coat the florets in the batter. You can do this in batches.
5. Roll in bread crumbs: One by one, place each cauliflower into the breadcrumb mixture. Coat well using one hand. Press down the bread crumbs on the cauliflower. Set aside the florets once coated.
6. Heat oil for frying-: Add oil in a frying pan and let it heat up
7. Fry cauliflower: Once the oil is hot, add the breaded cauliflower and fry until golden brown. Remove the oil form the pan and set aside on a tissue to drain the excel oil.
8. Prepare glaze/sauce: In a small jar or bowl, add in orange juice, maple syrup (Optional- you can skip it if you want your dish to be spicy) red chilly flakes, ginger and garlic paste, soya sauce, rice vinegar.
9. Cook glaze/sauce: Over medium heat, add in the glaze mixture into the pan. Mix well and leave to a simmer for 3-4 minutes.. Once it starts to boil, lower the heat.
10. Make corn starch slurry: In another small bowl, take some water and add in corn starch.
11. Add the slurry: To the simmered glaze, add the corn starch slurry. Mix well.
12. Add fried cauliflower: Add fried cauliflower to this and mix well until all combine.
13. Serve and Enjoy: Add some spring onions over the orange cauliflower, serve it over rice or noodles and enjoy while its still hot.

• You can opt out the maple syrup completely or substitute any sweeter you like.
• If you like more spicy, just add in more chili flakes or you can add some chili sauce as well.

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