Cashew Cauliflower in the Slow Cooker

Chinese food can be such a challenge when dining out if you are gluten-free.  I miss calling in an order for Chinese carryout. Recently I’ve been cooking Chinese or Chinese-American dishes at home and want to share a recipe with you today: Chinese Cauliflower in the Slow Cooker. Quite similar to Cashew Chicken with all of the vegetable goodness of cauliflower instead of chicken.  Plus it’s a slow cooker dish–perfect for our full lives!

Speaking of slow cookers, a friend asked me recently if I have a fancy pants programmable Crockpot.  I do not.  I have a small army of very basic Crockpots, from tiny dipper size to this one that I use for cooking most of the soups, stews and entrees that I share here.  I’m sure the fancy ones are quite handy, but for $20 or $30, you can add a slow cooker to your kitchen appliance collection.

Goodness, cauliflower got crazy expensive there for a minute!  At one point this winter, I was seeing prices higher than $6 a head.  Now I’m seeing it around $2 for conventional, a bit more for organic.  I do wish more stores would price cauliflower by the head and not the pound so I don’t have any surprises at the checkout.  I may try again this summer to grow cauliflower. It’s always been a garden challenge for me. Do you have any cauliflower growing tips for me?

Alright, let’s move along to the recipe. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do here!

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Cashew Cauliflower in the Slow Cooker

Servings 4 servings

Author Johnna

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower , cut into florets (approximately 2 pounds or 3 to 4 cups of florets)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil (or neutral oil of your choice)
• 1 cup whole raw cashews
• 3/4 cup Tamari/gluten-free soy sauce (if using Bragg's Aminos, use 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup water as Bragg's is more salty to the taste)
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce
• 3 Tablespoons sweet chili sauce (I use Trader Joe's, make sure yours is gluten-free)
• 3 Tablespoons coconut sugar
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger root
• 4 green onions , sliced
• 4 servings of brown rice

Instructions

1. Have your slow cooker out and ready to go.
2. In a large ziploc bag, place cornstarch and pepper. Close and shake to combine. Add cauliflower florets and shake to coat the cauliflower pieces.
3. In a large, deep skillet, add grapeseed oil and heat over medium. Once hot, add cauliflower florets to skillet. Cook until lightly browned on each side, turning often. You are going for lightly browned, not blackened.
4. Place cauliflower florets and cashew into the crockpot.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together Tamari, rice vinegar, tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce, coconut sugar, garlic and ginger root. Pour over the top of the cauliflower and cashews in the crockpot. Gently stir to combine.
6. Cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

This recipe was inspired by a Cashew Chicken recipe from The Recipe Critic.  I have modified the recipe to be gluten-free and vegan, changing ingredients and quantities.