This Changes Everything: Chicken-Fried Veggies
Illustration credit: Jennifer Fox
When Washington Post food and travel editor Joe Yonan came out early last year—as a vegetarian—a tiny storm erupted. “Career Suicide Or Lifesaver?” an NPR headline inquired.
Well, Yonan’s career is still kickin’ (he released a veggie-centric cookbook, ”Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook,” in August of 2013), and he continues to write about dishes that challenge what it means to be a vegetarian.
Case in point: Yonan’s recipe for chicken-fried cauliflower, inspired by the hearty fare of his Texas upbringing. Despite the “chicken” in its name, the dish doesn’t require anything that clucks. Yonan slices the cauliflower into 1-inch-thick “steaks” and coats them in a mixture of flour, paprika, ground ancho chile, and salt before dunking them into a skillet of shimmering canola oil. Then he adds a generous pour of caramelized onion–miso gravy, because what’s a steak without gravy?
Aside from the absence of meat, the biggest difference between this dish and its carnivorous counterpart, chicken-fried steak, is that the latter uses oil previously used to fry chicken; Yonan only uses his oil once . It’s a cute twist on a common expression, and it got us to thinking: what else can you “chicken-fry”? We turned to Yonan to find out.
"As a vegetarian, you end up eating a lot of things that feel like a variation of a stir-fry or a chopped salad," Yonan told us. "Sometimes I just want a big piece of something that I can cut into.”
In addition to cauliflower, Yonan would give king oyster mushrooms the chicken-fried treatment. “They have that knife-and-fork texture to them,” he mused. Sliced broccoli would work, too, he said, as would thick slabs of sweet potato, turnip, butternut squash, and carrot.
"I think you’d want something that has a pretty firm texture," Yonan offered. He recommends initially steaming your vegetables until they’re slightly underdone; they’ll finish cooking in the hot oil. "The beauty of [chicken frying] is that crispy-on-the-outside, softer-on-the-inside combo."
The result is something soul-satisfying, says Yonan. “[It’s] more like you’re having a full-fledged traditional dinner,” he said, adding, “maybe it’s just that cultural holdover of steak and potatoes on our psyches.”
Try the recipe yourself—subbing in the vegetable of your choosing—courtesy of Yonan. Be sure to have your best steak knives at the ready.
Chicken-Fried Cauliflower with Miso-Onion Gravy
from “Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook”
Serves 1
1 thick (1-inch) slice cauliflower, from the center of a large, trimmed head
Sea salt
1 egg, lightly whisked
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (pimentón)
1/4 teaspoon ground ancho or other chile
Canola oil, for frying
2 tablespoons caramelized onions
2 teaspoons white miso
1. Set the cauliflower slice in a medium skillet (preferably just big enough to hold it) over medium heat and pour in 1/4 inch of water. When the water starts to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and gently steam the cauliflower until it just starts to feel tender when you pierce it with a fork, about 10 minutes. Carefully transfer the cauliflower to a plate to cool, then sprinkle it with salt on both sides.
2. Put the egg and flour in separate wide, shallow bowls or plates. Stir the paprika, ground chile, and a little more salt into the flour. Dip the cauliflower in egg on both sides, then dredge it in the flour mixture, using a spoon or your fingers as needed to coat it as thoroughly as possible in the flour. (If the cauliflower breaks up, just dredge and fry the pieces.)
3. Pour the water out of the skillet, return it to medium heat, and pour in 1/4 inch of canola oil. When the oil starts to shim- mer, gently lay the cauliflower in and fry it until it is golden brown and crisp, then turn it over and repeat on the other side. Transfer the cauliflower to a plate lined with a paper towel.
4. Pour off all but a scant teaspoon of the oil, return the skillet to medium-low heat, and add the onions, miso, and 1/4 cup of water. Cook, stirring to thoroughly combine, until the mixture forms a sauce, adding more water if needed.
5. Transfer the cauliflower to a plate, spoon the gravy on top, and eat.
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