Battered cauliflower with sour cream sauce is a delicious finger food to munch on with an aperitif, but also as a side dish. Tasty cauliflower florets wrapped in a thin and light beer batter, which, with the right precautions, remains crispy and dry.
To prepare this delicious recipe, I used Val Venosta cauliflower, which represents 95% of the Venosta Valley’s horticultural production. It is compact and meaty and has a delicate aroma. Its harvest runs from June to October and is also available in an organic version.
Cauliflower is rich in vitamin C and minerals, making it an excellent ally for a nutritious and tasty dish. In this battered form, it’s perfect even for kids who don’t particularly like it. In that case, if you wish, you can also prepare the batter with sparkling mineral water instead of beer, just ensure it’s ice-cold to achieve a crisp and dry fry.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer, Autumn
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower (Val Venosta)
- 3/4 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons curry
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast for savory preparations
- 3/4 cup beer (ice-cold)
- to taste flake salt
- 6 leaves green onions
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- to taste milk
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- 4 cups peanut oil
Steps
To prepare the battered cauliflower, remove the outer leaves and stem of the cauliflower. Then take the florets with the help of a knife and divide the large ones into 2 or 3 pieces, so you get many florets of the same size. Rinse them under water, pat dry with a clean towel, and place in the fridge.
For the batter, place the flour, curry, paprika, and instant yeast in a bowl. Mix everything well with a whisk. Then gradually add the ice-cold beer while continuing to mix until all the beer is incorporated, and you have a smooth and homogeneous batter. Place in the fridge.
Heat the peanut oil in a pot or pan suitable for frying.
Meanwhile, take the batter and cauliflower florets from the fridge. Put about a third of the cauliflower florets into the batter (more or less, depending on the capacity of your pot) and mix, so all the florets are entirely covered with the batter. When the oil reaches 338°F (170°C) (if you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, dip a wooden spoon handle in the oil; if bubbles form around it, the oil is ready), use two spoons to take the batter-covered florets and gently drop them into the hot oil. Let them fry for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Remove the florets from the oil with a slotted spoon and place them for a few moments on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil. Meanwhile, fry the remaining florets in the same way.
Serve your battered and fried cauliflower immediately, accompanied by the sour cream and green onion sauce, for which you’ll find the recipe below.
For the sour cream sauce, wash the green onion leaves, dry them, and slice them finely. Put the sour cream in a small bowl, add the sliced green onion leaves, lemon juice, as well as salt and pepper. Mix everything well, and if necessary, add a splash of milk to make the sauce a bit less thick. Refrigerate.
Tips
It’s important that both the batter and the cauliflower are cold, this way they will absorb less oil during cooking and you will get a crispy and dry fry.
Another important thing to ensure the florets stay nice and crispy once fried is not to overlap them, but to lay them on the kitchen paper next to each other, preferably on a wire rack and not a plate.
