This crispy salt-and-pepper cauliflower from Fat Choy chef and owner Justin Lee sidesteps the fuss of frying your florets without compromising on crunchiness. (Who really wants to deep-fry at home anyways?) Leave the hassle to the restaurants and instead just roast them in the oven until deeply browned. Click this way for more of our favorite cauliflower recipes.
Recipe information
Yield
4 Servings
Ingredients
1
½
1
3
12
2
5
2
3
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in lowest position of oven; preheat to 450°. Whisk pepper and ¼ cup oil in a large bowl to combine. Add cauliflower, season with salt, and toss to coat. Spread out cauliflower in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until dark brown and crisp underneath, 15–20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn cauliflower over. Roast until second side is dark brown and crisp, 10–15 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, heat ¼ cup oil in a medium skillet over medium. Cook shallots, stirring occasionally, until deeply golden brown and beginning to crisp, 6–8 minutes. Transfer shallots to a blender, add tofu and miso, and purée until smooth. Transfer tofu sauce to a small saucepan and set aside. Wipe out skillet.
Step 3
Pour remaining 3 Tbsp. oil into same skillet and add garlic and jalapeños. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is golden and crisp and jalapeños darken slightly, about 4 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl. Season garlic and jalapeños with salt; set aside. Let oil cool and set aside for another use.
Step 4
Place saucepan with tofu sauce over medium-low heat and cook until warmed through. Once you see a bubble or two, remove from heat and stir in lemon juice; season with salt.
Step 5
Spoon tofu sauce on a platter and top with roasted cauliflower; scatter cilantro and reserved crispy garlic and jalapeño over. Serve with rice alongside.
Leave a Review
Reviews (38)
Back to TopThis is one of my favorite dishes — the charred cauliflower in the creamy sauce is so comforting. Subbed sweet onion in for the shallot last time and it was still delicious. Highly recommend.
Helen
Los Angeles
12/20/2022
Very good. It's the best way to eat tofu. My husband really like it too. This would also be good with other vegetables like cabbage, eggplant, or green beans.
NesraJane
Wyoming
8/20/2021
Delicious! For the sauce: instead of putting it back in the skillet at the end, you can microwave it in the bowl you’re serving in. No need to make that mess. The leftover sauce is basically a delicious vegan French onion dip for chips or veggies
Shelby
Wyoming
5/28/2021
I have made a few of Fat Choy's recipes and they are delicious! There is absolutely no reason not to be Vegan. Thanks for sharing these awesome dishes with the general public.
Sandy
N.Y.
5/27/2021
SO delicious! Definitely could add another half to whole head of cauliflower. Will definitely be keeping this recipe in regular rotation!
Meesh
San Mateo, CA
5/24/2021
This was really good. Had to sub thinly sliced onion for shallot and it worked well. One step missing from the method (IMO) is to transfer shallot and oil to the blender, not just the shallot. Feel like you could get away with 2 heads of cauli. 450 convection total oven time for me was closer to 15 min total. Next time would blend some herb directly into the miso sauce. Also had way more sauce then cauliflower, so used the left over oil from the garlic and jalapeños, added a bunch of lemon juice and more cilantro and turned it into a v good vinaigrette.
Ben
Chicago
5/11/2021
I loved the general vision of this recipe, but the miso sauce was too bland so I added rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, and chili paste, which together seemed to improve it quite a bit. I also love crisped shallots and didn't want to waste the texture by blending it in with the miso sauce, so I crisped the shallots with garlic and jalapenos for the topping, which was excellent.
Anonymous
Oregon
5/10/2021