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Life & Style Food & Wine Food & Wine

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.

Serves 6

2 heads cauliflower

1 carton buttermilk

Flour mix

150g rice flour

120g tapioca flour

150g potato starch

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2 litres neutral oil for deep frying

Sticky sauce

250g minced ginger

200g minced garlic

100g finely diced spring onion (white part only)

100g fresh chilli minced (seeds included if you like it hot)

3 Tbsp neutral oil

400g castor sugar

300ml water

600g glucose syrup

500ml gluten free soy sauce

350ml rice wine vinegar

Tomato powder (optional)

3 tomatoes finely sliced

Method

For sticky sauce

Sautee ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli in oil until translucent.

Add the sugar, glucose, water and soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes.

Take off heat and add in the rice vinegar. This will make more than enough sticky sauce, but it will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to a month.

For the cauliflower

Cut cauliflower into walnut-size florets and marinate in buttermilk for 2-6 hours.

Mix all the ingredients for the flour mix together.

Shake excess buttermilk off florets and toss in flour mix, ensuring it is totally covered in flour. Do this in small batches

Heat oil in a deep pot until it reaches 180degC.

Gently add cauliflower into pot in small batches, do not overcrowd the pot.

Cook until golden brown — about 4 minutes.

Place in a large bowl and toss with 4 tablespoons of sticky sauce, put in a serving dish and dust with 1 teaspoon tomato powder (optional). Serve with aioli.

Tomato powder

Dehydrate for 12 hours at 55degC (or until completely dry), grind in a spice grinder until it’s a fine powder. Store in a dry airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

• Recipe provided by Wanaka's FuDog head chef John Menzies. Recipe requested by Carole Wadsworth.