I’ve been making it a habit recently to make large-ish batches of vegetables with a bit more panache to them than just roasting them with olive oil, and keeping the leftovers in the fridge.
In my series of sweet and sour cauliflower recipes I’ve discovered there are a bunch of variations on a theme:
- to bread or not to bread (so far, I’ve opted not to bread)
- to cook the sauce as a pour-over after (the way to go with the breaded options), or to toss the cauliflower in the sauce before cooking it
- the exact proportion of the basic ingredients
For basic ingredients, you’re looking at ketchup, vinegar, sweetener, soy sauce & seasonings like garlic or ginger.
The simplest one I’ve found so far was basically just sricha and maple syrup with a little soy sauce, tossed on the cauliflower and cooked. Spicy, but delicious! (I can’t find the recipe now).
This one {the word this is clickable} was pretty easy, but it involved cooking: Equal parts ketchup and white sugar; half as much apple cider vinegar and soy sauce, a little sricha, a little garlic powder. Then thicken it with a small amount of cornstarch stirred into as much water as the soy sauce. I plan to toss it over the cauliflower that’s now roasting in my toaster oven.
Because it’s a full-blown sticky-sweet sauce, it would be great to throw in green peppers and even a few pineapple chunks, like a traditional sweet and sour meat dish.
This one {the word this is clickable} calls for fresh ginger and garlic, and quite a bit less sugar than the others. It’s on an Asian website, so it’s probably more “authentic” than the sweeter, Americanized versions above.