Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics: Buffalo Cauliflower Sandwich
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Excerpted from Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics. Copyright © 2018 by Lauren Toyota. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
It’s our claim to fame . . . buffalo cauliflower. This recipe is the most visited page on the blog and the most watched YouTube video.
Newcomers, feast your eyes on the buffalo cauliflower sandwich! You diehards will notice and recognize the revamp on the breading. I’ve added panko-style bread crumbs ’cause it makes the cauliflower crispy and crunchy as hell. Not the kind of crunch that’ll tear up the roof of your mouth, but the kind of crunch that’ll definitely make you relapse and forget that you’re biting into a piece of cauliflower. It makes a heck of a good replacement for chicken in this spicy stacked monster of a sandwich!
Buffalo Cauliflower Sandwich
Servings 4 sandwiches
Ingredients
Breaded Buffalo Cauliflower
- 2 heads cauliflower
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free rice flour
- 4 teaspoons garlic powder
- 4 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 3/4 cup unsweetened nondairy milk
- 3/4 cup water
- 3 cups panko-style bread crumbs or gluten-free bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup vegan butter
- 1 1/2 cups buffalo-style hot sauce
Sandwiches
- 4 kaiser-style rolls
- The Classic Ranch page 223
- 1 cup thinly sliced red onion about 1 onion or Pickled Red Onions (page 107)
- 2 cups shredded or finely chopped iceberg or leaf lettuce
- 2 tomatoes thinly sliced
- 4 dill pickles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In this case, parchment paper is absolutely necessary, or the cauliflower and batter will stick to the sheet.
- To prepare the cauliflower, remove the leafy parts, being careful not to cut off any florets. Slice each head in half from the top. From the inside of each half, cut a slice 3⁄4 inch to 1 inch thick. You now have 4 large cauliflower cross-sections or steaks. You can reserve the remaining florets to make buffalo bites using the same batter and method or the Southern Fried Cauliflower (page 46), or you can roast them up for another meal.
- Mix the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, nondairy milk, and water together in a bowl until well combined. The amount of liquid or flour may need to be increased if you replace the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour. It should be thick enough that it doesn't pool too much around the steak.
- Transfer the batter to a wide, shallow dish that will fit your cauliflower steaks. Place the bread crumbs in another dish or large bowl. Immerse each steak in the batter, using one hand to coat all the crevices and letting just a bit of the excess drip back into the dish.
- Coat all sides of the steaks in the bread crumbs. Place the breaded cauliflower steaks on the baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the ranch sauce and buffalo sauce.
- In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients together for the ranch. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the sandwiches.
- Just before the cauliflower is finished baking, melt the vegan butter and whisk it into the hot sauce in a shallow dish you can dredge the cauliflower steaks in once again.
- Remove the cauliflower from the oven. You may want to let them cool so you can handle them. You might need to replace your parchment paper if it's really soaked through or burned quite a bit.
- Dredge the cauliflower steaks through the buffalo sauce, making sure to coat them evenly. Bake again on a parchment lined baking sheet for 25 minutes.
- To assemble the sandwiches, spread ranch on both sides of a toasted kaiser, then lay down the buffalo cauliflower steak on the bottom, add red onion slices, lettuce, and thick cut tomato slices.
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