Who knew cauliflower could be so, so good?
While walking down Shuk Machene Yehudah with my children, nieces, and nephews, we heard someone shout, “Gush Katif Cauliflower. Try it!” I stopped in my tracks. Technically, after the disengagement, all the farms relocated and are not in Gush Katif anymore (Gush Katif produce were bug-free greenhouse farms located in Gaza before the disengagement, but the name “Gush Katif” is still associated with bug-free produce).
When we stopped to see what the woman was talking about, we realized she was selling Cauliflower Fries from a tiny two person storefront. What else did they sell?
Not much.
Besides for the cauliflower fries, they offered a choice of beer. I wasn’t ordering beer, so we asked for a portion of Cauliflower Fries.
“Don’t you want to try a sample first?” I looked around at the gaggle of kids and said, “Isn’t that a bad business move? All the kids will want to sample the fries.”
She laughed and answered me, “Everyone who tastes it orders a large portion.”
Large portion it was! Pudgy little fingers began dipping and eating their cauliflower.
My sister whispered to me, “Please don’t let my kids know they are eating a vegetable.”
And then, of course, like I always tend to do, when I got home, I tried to duplicate the fries myself. I also serve these with sweet chili sauce mixed with mayo.
- 2 pounds frozen or fresh cauliflower florets
- Oil, for frying
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Kosher or sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup cool water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- If using frozen cauliflower, fully defrost the cauliflower and pat dry. You can microwave it for 2 minutes, drain and pat dry.
- In a pot or deep fryer, heat oil to 350ºF.
- In a medium bowl, combine batter ingredients. Toss a few pieces of cauliflower in batter at a time. Add to hot oil and deep fry until golden. Sprinkle with lemon juice and salt. Serve with mayo dipping sauce (below) and or sweet chili sauce.
- ⅔ cup light mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water
- 3 cloves garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
- In a blender or using an immersion blender, blend all ingredients together.
Did you try to air fryer these? If yes, at what temperature and for how long?
These were amazing but for some reason couldn’t get them to be crispy and crunchy
Mine weren’t crispy either 🙁 and I dried them with a towel before coating. Unfortunately did not go over great
Also not so crispy but very good. I used a baby fryer