General Tso Cauliflower and Mushrooms
The Guajillo (wha-hee-oh) chile is the most common dried chile in Mexico after the Ancho. The flavor of the Guajillo is distinct, slightly fruity with a strong piney, berry under taste. Guajillo flavors dished easily so a little goes a long way. This chile is between a 2-4 on the heat scale of 1-10. Guajillo, combined with the Passilla and Ancho, form the holy trinity of chiles used to prepare the traditional mole sauces.
Ingredients
1/2 cup low sodium vegetable or chicken stock
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sambal oelek (or any Asian chili sauce)
2-3 small dried chiles
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp fish sauce*
2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 small cauliflower, cored and cut into bite sized florets
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
Boil a large pot of water. Add cauliflower and allow to parboil 2-3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a jar with a lid, combine stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sambal oelek, dried chiles, cornstarch, and fish sauce. Put lid on jar and shake well to combine. Heat a medium skillet (cast iron works best) over medium-high heat. Add peanut and sesame oil. Add mushrooms and cook, turning, until starting to brown, about 2 minutes.
Add cauliflower and cook, stirring, until brown and fork tender, about 1 minute.
Shake jar one more time, and pour sauce over cauliflower mushroom mixture.
Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened and glossy, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat, and garnish with green onion.
Serve hot, with steamed rice or noodles.
Notes
*Make this recipe vegan, by leaving out the fish sauce. Instead, taste and add salt to desired salt level, or use a vegan fish sauce, or Chinese cooking wine.
Slightly adapted from thefoodblog.net