Cauliflower Buffalo Wings

Buffalo cauliflower wings have been around for a while now and I’ve always been intrigued but also a bit skeptical. I’ve tried cauliflower steaks and have never been that impressed by a big chunk of cauliflower with a bit of marinade.

I decided to run a vegan streetfood evening and I thought the Buffalo Cauliflower Wings would fit the bill, but I wanted them to feel indulgent just like any other junk food. I hit the internet for inspiration and tried a few recipes but they weren’t doing it for me. The pale appearance of the cauliflower behind the marinade never looked particularly appetising. Then I came across the idea of coating it in breadcrumbs but I don’t like deep fried food so this recipe needed to work baked in the oven.

I also can’t handle very spicy food so I wanted a little spicy kick rather than “blow your head off” heat, but adding more sriracha or other hot sauce will make them hotter if you prefer.

In so many pictures the wings are tiny florets but I wanted something much more substantial, I wanted it look more like a wing but also to feel like one, so I made the wings with very big florets so that you can hold the stalk whilst chomping the rest.

I started by making a batter to the coat the florets and then coating in breadcrumbs. This first time I did this I got into a terrible mess so here’s a tip. Rather than using your hands to dip the cauliflower into the batter I used a bigger bowl and put all of the caulifower florets into it then mixed with a large spoon. I then used tongs to place the coated florets into a bowl of breadcrumbs. Using this method my hands stayed relatively clean.

I used Panko breadcrumbs because they’re much coarser than regular breadcrumbs and they create a much crispier coating. These were cooked in the oven at a high temperature and I poured a Buffalo sauce over them and put them back in the oven for a few minutes. The breadcrumbs soak up the sauce instantly and the wings take on the classic orange colour that you get when you’ve deep fried something in breadcrumbs. I couldn’t find Buffalo sauce here in france so I had to improvise, the important thing is to make sure the sauce is quite watery so that the breadcrumbs absorb it.

So here it is, my Buffalo Cauliflower Wings recipe – this will make roughly 10 wings.

Batter

250 ml non dairy milk
130 g plain flour
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
150 g panko breadcrumbs

Sauce

4 tbsp margarine (palm oil free) or ordourless coconut oil
100 ml vegetable stock
1/4 tsp sriracho or other chilli sauce
1.5 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
4 tsp agave or maple syrup or brown sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp tomato ketchup

Begin by cutting cauliflower into large florets.
Next put of the batter ingredients into a bowl and mix thourougly and coat the cauliflower in the batter.
Coat the florets in breadcrumbs then put in the oven for 15 minutes at 220 degrees celcius or until golden. Meanwhile put all the sauce ingredients into a pan heat, simmmer gently for a couple of minutes then set aside.
When the florets come out of the oven pour the sauce over them and place back in the oven for 5 minutes, all the sauce should be absorbed and the wings should be crispy, if they’re still a bit crispy return to the oven for a few minutes.

I remember my first savoury cheesecake, it was 10 years ago at the Warehouse Cafe in Birmingham and I vowed to go home and make one. Well it wasn’t until a few days ago that I finally did it and I’m really happy with outcome, it’s really rich, velvety and totally indulgent. I looked at a few different recipes; some use geletin or agar agar to set it but I didn’t want a raw cheesecake because then it just seems like a load of cream cheese plonked onto a base. That meant it it had to be baked but I also had to decide what cheese to use. Most recipes use cheese I don’t have access to in France, so I used a regular cream cheese, a fromage frais mousse (13% fat), Cantal (a white hard cheese similar to cheddar) and some crumbled hard goats cheese. Finally the base…many recipes use a breadcrumb mix but I wanted it to be gluten free so instead I used gluten free oats. Most recipes just use melted butter to bind the oats together but I find this rather bland. I added an egg to the give the base extra bite and a bit of cantal cheese but you could use Parmasam or Pecorino instead.

Cauliflower Buffalo Wings