I am embarrassed to say that, though I really love traditional and proper Chinese food, I also have a soft spot for certain Americano-Chinese offerings. While it is usually too sweet for my taste, General Tso's chicken is something that I order from time to time so I was quite intrigued by the recipe linked below.
L. fought me every step of the way at the very idea of this dish. Once he gave it a try however, he and I ate an entire large head of cauliflower between the two of us and he also spooned up every last drop of sauce for his steamed rice. I will be using the batter again; I see scallops in its future. By the way, I have tagged this recipe for vegetarians but obviously this is only suitable for ovo-vegetarians.
I'm sure that the original recipe is very good. I felt that it would be too salty as it was written out (lots of soy sauce AND salt?), I find American recipes use too much sugar, L. is not a big scallion fan, I don't see the point of using vegetable stock rather than water in such a highly seasoned sauce, I am dentally challenged where sesame seeds are concerned...hence the adapted version you have before you.
Recipe
Batter
½ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup cornstarch
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 cup oil for shallow frying
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the soy sauce and the rice vinegar. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well; there should be no lumps. Set aside while you prepare the sauce.
When ready to eat, heat the oil in a frying pan - medium heat worked best for me. The original recipe called for a neutral oil but I used olive oil because it was what I had and it worked just fine. I decreased the oil from 1/2 cup to a 1/4 cup because I figured a shallow fry would work here and the less oil in general the better - I prefer to use my daily calorie allotment elsewhere. I also used a trick of my mother's and added 1/2 tsp sesame oil to the frying oil for extra flavor.
Dip each cauliflower floret in the batter and then add to the pan. Do not overcrowd the pan or you will need to add more oil. I cooked about 12-15 small florets per batch. After a couple of minutes, turn the pieces over and then cook for a couple more minutes without disturbing the pieces. Remove from pan and set aside to drain on a plate covered with several layers of paper towels. Repeat steps until all florets are cooked. Kitchen tongs are your best friend during this process. Also, make this recipe the day before you plan on cleaning your kitchen because, despite your best attempts at control, there will be a mess. If, like me, you unthinkingly make this the very day you have done a major deep clean of your kitchen you will be very, very, cross.
Once all the cauliflower is cooked, place on a platter and pour the sauce (recipe below) over the top. Serve with steamed Japanese rice and some kind of a salad. Since I omitted the sesame seeds and the scallions from the original recipe, my version was not as pretty to photograph as theirs was. Next time I will probably make a combination of broccoli and cauliflower for a pretttier dish. Or lightly pickle some red pepper pieces and festoon on top for some kind of color contrast.
Another alternative might be to cut the cauliflower head into thick slices ("steaks") and present each diner with one big piece of the vegetable rather than florets. Something to think about - I suppose after cooking in the oil, one would have to finish cooking the pieces in the oven or the end result might be too crunchy. I will get back to you with specifics if I try this; I just like to point out possibilities for futher adaptation when I can.
Recipe
Sauce
2 tsps sesame oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and grated on a microplane
1 Tbps fresh ginger, grated on a microplane (do the garlic first and the ginger will remove its smell from your fingers)
¼ cup water
¼ cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce
3 Tbsps rice vinegar
2 Tbsps mirin
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
Combine all ingredients except water and cornstarch in a small saucepan and heat until bubbling. Lower heat to the lowest possible setting.
Mix the cornstarch and the water together in a little dish ("make a slurry" for foodies) and add to the sauce. Whisk well until incorporated. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the sauce is thick and glistening.
Original recipe from purewow, here.