Salad dressings & dips
Gluten free cauliflower bites with chilli, mint & lime mayo
So crispy and moreish, you’ll want to eat them whether or not you follow a gluten-free diet. But for those that do, these are a real treat. Many attempts at gluten-free crumbs can be a bit dusty, dry or lacking the essential bite. This technique harnesses the natural crispness of baked corn tortillas to create a perfect crunchy outer shell that gives way to reveal the soft tender cauliflower curds within. It works for chicken nuggets and schnitzels too. The chilli mayo is a great partner, and feels germane to the tortilla chips, but you can use whatever dip you like with these.
Cook's notes
This recipe does involve deep frying, so a deep pan and a food thermometer are incredibly helpful tools to have. Don’t forget a wide slotted spoon to remove the cauliflower. They will work in the oven though, cooked on a preheated baking tray at 180°C/gas 4 for about 20 mins or so, until golden and crisp.
Ingredients
For the mayonnaise:
- 2-3 jalapeños or other green chillies (to taste)
- 200g good mayonnaise
- 1 garlic clove
- 10g mint, roughly chopped
- 10g coriander, roughly chopped – optional but nice to have
- juice of a lime
For the bites:
- 1 large cauliflower
- 150g corn tortilla chips – (Amaizin do good organic ones)
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- salt
- 100g gluten free flour (Doves farm do a great one)
- 3 eggs
- oil of your choice for deep frying
Method
To make the mayonnaise:
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Step 1
Deseed the chillies and add them to a small blender with the mayonnaise, garlic, herbs, and half the lime juice. Add a pinch of salt and blitz together. Taste and tweak the salt and lime to your liking. If it is a little thick you can thin it with a small dash of hot water if you like. To add extra smoky depth, you can roast or pan fry the chillies first until softened and starting to blister. It can be made well in advance and will last a few days in the fridge.
To make the bites:
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Step 1
Trim away the leaves and core of the cauliflower (keep them for other dishes as they are completely usable). Break or cut the head into small bite-sized florets.
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Step 2
Steam or boil the florets for about 1 and a half minutes – very lightly, just enough to start the cooking and make them moist enough to help the flour stick. Drain and leave to cool.
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Step 3
Meanwhile, blitz the tortilla chips in a blender with the paprika and a pinch of salt, until they look like coarse breadcrumbs – take care that they don’t turn into a fine powder. If your tortilla chips are heavily seasoned or flavoured already you may want to be cautious with the seasoning.
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Step 4
To make the bites, tip the gluten free flour into a shallow bowl and season generously with salt. Crack the eggs into a second bowl and beat them thoroughly with a dash of water. Tip the tortilla crumbs into a third bowl. Toss 3-4 cauliflower pieces at a time into the flour until evenly coated, shaking away the excess. Dip and drag them through the egg and then throw them into the tortilla crumbs, turning and pressing until completely coated. Repeat with all the pieces. Keep to one side.
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Step 5
Heat the oil in a high sided pan. You should only need about 2-3 inches of oil to fry in. Slowly bring the oil up to 190⁰c.
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Step 6
Add some cauliflower bites gently to the oil. Don’t put more than 10-12 in at a time or else the oil temperature will drop too much. Fry for 3-4 minutes of so or until golden, crisp, and buoyant. (see cook’s notes for alternative cooking method).
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Step 7
Remove carefully and drain on kitchen paper to soak up any oil. Bring the oil back up to temperature and repeat until they are all cooked. Scoff hot with the mayo on the side.