This Korean fried cauliflower dish is well worth the effort

KFC (Korean Fried Cauliflower)

Serves 4

Ingredients
12 florets cauliflower, cut into 25g florets
20g salt
3 litres vegetable oil, for deep-frying
3g white sesame seeds, to garnish
1 lime wedge (1/8 of a lime), to serve

For the KFC batter?
400g Yardbird Chicken Flour Mix (see recipe below)
400g Tempura Batter (see recipe below)

For the KFC sauce
100g garlic cloves
500g sugar
50g mirin
150g Korean chilli paste
250g red yuzu kosho

Method
First, make the KFC batter. Whisk all the ingredients with 480ml ice-cold water until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the KFC sauce, blend the garlic with 1.5 litres almost boiling water until smooth. Place the garlic paste in a pan with the sugar, mirin, Korean chilli paste, and red yuzu kosho, then mix well. Reduce over a low heat for 1-3 hours, stirring frequently, until the mixture has the consistency of a thick barbecue sauce.

Soak the cauliflower florets in? 2 litres water and the salt for 1 hour. Just before cooking, remove the cauliflower from the saltwater solution and put in the batter, completely coating each floret.

Heat the vegetable oil in a deep fryer, or a deep saucepan, to 180°C. One by one, carefully drop the battered cauliflower florets into the hot oil, making sure that the pieces don’t stick to the bottom of the fryer or to each other. Once all the florets are in the fryer, fish out any stray bits of batter. Fry the florets until they are deep brown in colour, about 3 minutes.

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack, then on a paper towel. Transfer the cauliflower to? a bowl. Immediately cover with a generous amount of room-temperature KFC sauce.

To serve, stack the sauce-smothered cauliflower florets in a serving bowl. Garnish liberally with the white sesame seeds and a lime wedge. Eat while hot.

Yardbird Chicken Flour Mix

Yield: 850g

Ingredients
500g Japanese karaage flour
100g potato starch
250g tempura flour

Method
Mix all the ingredients together. Store in an airtight container or sealed bag until ready to use.

Tempura Batter

Yield: 1.25 litres

Ingredients
1 egg yolk
700g tempura flour

Method
Mix the egg yolk with 1,050g iced water. Place the tempura flour in a large mixing bowl, then gently add the egg and water. Make sure you don’t over-mix.
Keep the batter chilled at all times. Reserve in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Extracted from Chicken and Charcoal: Yakitori, Yardbird, Hong Kong by Matt Abergel (Phaidon Press, approx €28).