Spicy dry pot cauliflower is a popular Sichuan dish in Chinese cuisine, which combines umami, spicy and slightly burnt aroma to bring a unique flavor enjoyment. It's easy to cook, but you need a few tricks to make it delicious. Here is a detailed step by step to make a spicy dry pot cauliflower so that you can taste the authentic taste even at home.
First of all, prepare the main ingredients: a large fresh cauliflower, two red peppers, a green pepper, a few cloves of garlic, an appropriate amount of dried chili, a small piece of fresh ginger, a small spoon of bean paste, a little five-spice powder, an appropriate amount of salt, a pinch of sugar, a large spoon of light soy sauce, a spoonful of oyster sauce, a little cooking wine, an egg white, an appropriate amount of starch, an appropriate amount of Sichuan peppercorns, and an appropriate amount of vegetable oil for stir-frying.
Before we start, we need to wash the cauliflower and cut it into small floretsRed peppers and green peppers are washed and seeded and cut into shredsFresh ginger and garlic minced;Dried chili peppers cut into sections. During the preparation, make sure that all the ingredients are clean and that you can properly prepare more garlic and dried chili peppers to increase the aroma and spiciness.
This is followed by the crucial step of processing the cauliflower to increase the taste. Blanch the prepared cauliflower flowers in boiling water for a short time, not for too long, so as not to lose taste and nutrients. Remove the blanched cauliflower immediately and drain the water. This step makes it easier for the cauliflower to absorb the seasoning while maintaining its crisp texture.
Then add a small amount of salt, sugar and starch to the cauliflower, add the previously beaten egg white, and mix all these seasonings gently, so that each cauliflower is covered with a thin layer of paste. This allows the cauliflower to form an attractive charred skin during the sautéing process, while keeping it juicy and tender as it tastes.
Now for the main event, the dry pot base. The soul of a dry pot lies in its base, which involves mixing and balancing spices and spicy flavors. First of all, take a dry pot or a large wok, pour in enough vegetable oil, heat to seventy percent hot, put in peppercorns, fry the fragrance, remove the peppercorns. Then add the minced garlic, minced ginger and dried chili peppers, fry at low temperature to bring out the fragrance, then add the bean paste, and fry the red oil over low heat.
At this time, we can see that the red oil in the pot is slowly emerging, and the fragrance is overflowing. Then add the sugar and cooking wine, stir-fry evenly to let the alcohol evaporate, and then add the shredded red and green peppers. During this process, you can also adjust the flavor to your liking, such as adding five-spice powder, light soy sauce and oyster sauce to taste, and keeping the heat low to sauté so that all the condiments are evenly coated on the cauliflower.
The final step is simple and crucial: gently put the cauliflower in the pan and stir-fry quickly over high heat so that each cauliflower is evenly coated with the base. This process should not be too long to prevent the cauliflower from becoming soft and losing its chewiness. If you prefer a more layered texture, you can also add some dried tofu or other ingredients such as mushrooms at this step.
In the final analysis, the key to the dry pot cauliflower lies in the spicy flavor of the base and the tenderness and chewiness of the cauliflower itself. When the cauliflower is evenly coated in the golden chilli oil sequins, the moment it comes out of the pot means that a spicy dry pot cauliflower with full color and flavor is complete, and its deliciousness will undoubtedly take you on a warm and spicy taste bud journey.