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Kung Pao Cauliflower

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Alex Lau

Searing the cauliflower in this recipe before marinating softens the cauliflower, which opens up the florets and creates more surface area for the marinade to stick to. If you marinate it raw, it will burn before becoming tender.

Ingredients

4 servings

2

tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

2

teaspoons cornstarch

1

tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons soy sauce

1

tablespoon sherry vinegar

2

teaspoons hoisin sauce

2

teaspoons sugar

1

teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1

medium head of cauliflower (about 1¾ pounds)

2

tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

3

ounces slab or thick-cut bacon, chopped

6

dried japones chiles, chiles de árbol, or other red chiles

1

teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns or ½ teaspoon cracked black peppercorns

3

scallions, dark-green and white parts separated, thinly sliced

1

serrano chile, sliced

1

1-inch piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped

2

garlic cloves, sliced

¼

cup unsalted, roasted peanuts

Kosher salt

Steamed white rice (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Stir wine, cornstarch, and 1 Tbsp. soy sauce in a medium bowl; set marinade aside.

    Step 2

    Stir vinegar, hoisin sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and remaining 2 tsp. soy sauce in a small bowl; set sauce aside.

    Step 3

    Remove leaves and cut cauliflower into medium florets. Trim woody end of stalk and discard, then cut stalk into ½"-thick pieces. Heat 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a wok or large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Cook cauliflower, tossing occasionally, until browned in places and beginning to soften, 7–9 minutes. Give reserved marinade a stir to reincorporate cornstarch and add cauliflower to bowl; toss to coat. Toss occasionally while you cook the bacon.

    Step 4

    Reduce heat to medium. Cook bacon and remaining 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in wok, stirring often, until bacon is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Add dried chiles and peppercorns and cook, tossing, just until fragrant (be careful not to burn), about 30 seconds. Transfer bacon, chiles, and peppercorns to a plate, leaving bacon drippings behind.

    Step 5

    Return cauliflower to wok with a slotted spoon; discard excess marinade. Cook cauliflower, tossing occasionally, until charred in spots and crisp-tender (short of scorching it, don’t worry about letting it go pretty dark), 8–10 minutes. Add scallion whites, serrano chile, ginger, garlic, peanuts, and reserved sauce and cook, tossing often, until fragrant and cauliflower is tender, about 2 minutes. Add bacon mixture and cook, tossing, just until sauce coats cauliflower, about 1 minute; season with salt.

    Step 6

    Transfer to a platter and top with scallion greens. Serve with rice alongside.

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  • I have tried several different recipes for Kung Pao cauliflower and, hands down, this is the best. I do use less sugar for this recipe, but I tend to like things less sweet.

    • Maria

    • Washington, DC

    • 10/30/2023

  • We enjoyed this quite a bit, although I think next time I'll use a little less sugar, as it was a tad on the sweet side for me.

    • Katherine

    • Connecticut

    • 2/25/2023

  • One of the best recipes! I roast the cauliflower in the oven first and then add then add the marinade after. I bring the rest of the dish together on the stove as instructed. I just like how roasted it gets in the oven - can’t mimic that on the stove!

    • PK

    • Illinois

    • 2/24/2022

  • Just dropping in to say, if a recipe needs major modifications, like doubling he sauce for example, it is not a 4 star recipe. Gave this 1 star as-is. Picante and capsica overwhelms all other ingredients.

    • Anonymous

    • Westport WA

    • 2/13/2022

  • This should all work in theory. I was expecting a good balance of spice, sweetness, umami, and notes pf picante and capsicum throughout. At least, based on my experience of past kung pao. Instead its basically all pepper all the time. Totally drowns out the sweet citrus of hoisin and the acid of the wine and vinegar and heck, even the salt!. Plus the texture misses the mark - none of the clingy sauce I hoped for. It’s a waste of a perfectly good cauliflower and I won’t be making it again.

    • Cambro

    • Washington

    • 2/2/2022

  • We really enjoyed this dish. I hadn’t read the comments prior to making it, and agree on upping the sauce and marinade. Solid flavors and textures.

    • Tim j

    • Missoula Montana

    • 9/8/2021

  • Awesome dish! I took the advice of other reviewers and roasted the cauliflower first and then finished it in a pan with sauce. So excellent!

    • Anonymous

    • Chicago

    • 8/29/2021

  • It was good, but it needed TWICE the amount of SAUCE!

    • Anonymous

    • Candad

    • 6/11/2021

  • I’m a fan! As other reviewers have said recommend roasting the cauliflower (I definitely could not have fit it all raw in my cast iron, certainly not without steaming), doubling the sauce (honestly probably the marinade too), and I don’t think it tastes like what I’m used to as “kung pao” but I still thought it was tasty. I wish I had cut my florets twice bite size as I cut them bite size and they shrunk to tiny. Also recommend upping the peanuts because peanuts are wonderful. I cooked this with bacon but one of my favorite ways to sub in for bacon bits/grease if I am cooking for vegetarians or vegans is to cut a shallot into rings, fry those rings until brown and crisp in veggie oil, then use that cooking oil as the grease. The flavor profile is not the same but it has a satisfying crunch and savoriness to it that I love. I think that would work really well here if you need a bacon sub. I believe my use of that technique also originally came from another bon appetit recipe - something like barley herby mushroom salad - that I adore.

    • BananaMartini

    • Elkins Park, PA

    • 11/9/2020

  • Followed what other commenters had done - roasted my cauliflower instead of the first cook in a cast iron skillet or wok, paid particular attention to the usage of sauce vs marinade. These both helped. Good flavors and textures

    • Anonymous

    • San Jose, CA

    • 10/11/2020

  • Delicious! However, after cleaning the cauliflower and drying it, I tossed it in veg oil and roasted it in a 450* oven (bottom rack - preheat the sheet pan). I cooked it until it was nicely charred ~ 30 minutes. After cooking the cauliflower, I tossed it with the marinade then warmed it through and completed the recipe as written for the other parts.

    • Anonymous

    • 9/3/2020

  • This is a great recipe. The bacon is just enough to give it a satisfying savory/meaty element. We loved it. I had to substitute Mirin for the Chinese rice wine and jalapeño for the serrano, which worked nicely too.

    • Anonymous

    • Ithaca, New York

    • 5/1/2020

  • Will definitely make this again, absolutely loved it. I substituted the bacon for 1 finely chopped onion which worked well. However I didn't really get the dried chilis bit, and didn't understand they needed to be put in whole and didn't have any to hand so I wrongly substituted an extra 2 chopped chilis in and ended up with a very very spicy dish. Cleared up all the blocked up noses in the house though! Apart from that, I'll definitely make it again without the above error, as the sauce had so much flavour and the cauliflower texture was absolutely fantastic.

    • crispindur

    • Ireland

    • 4/21/2020

  • Mmmm good flavor and texture! For a vegetarian, I was excited to see a veggie alternative to kung pao chicken. I skipped the bacon and had to make some substitutions - white wine for the chinese rice wine, and red wine vinegar for the sherry vinegar. The Serrano chile was very spicy when raw so I wimped out and only put a small amount (about a teaspooon diced) in the actual dish. It was very tasty and not too spicy at all, so maybe I'll put a little more next time. The only thing I would change is to double or triple the sauce amount, but that's just me- love the extra sauce, especially when serving over rice. Enjoy!

    • duskinh

    • Seattle

    • 3/4/2020

  • My gosh...so easy and so good. Used potato starch and red wine vinegar, as that's all I had in the pantry, with great results. If you're going to half the recipe as I did, I recommend not changing the marinade volume although everything else worked a treat when halved :)

    • nedrum

    • Australia

    • 1/7/2020