Buffalo Cauliflower Bites and Heavenly Blu Cheez

This is a three-parter, so keep your boots on and enjoy the ride! I promise you’re going to love this recipe. Serve it with the traditional celery slices for more crunch and more things to dip in this amazing Blu Cheez! Definitely make the Blu Cheez sauce first and let it sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

Prep time: 12-15 minutes
Bake time: 20-30 minutes

Serves 2-3

I suggest you double the batch.

Ingredients

  • 1 head cauliflower
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or soy)
  • 1 cup flour (I used ww, but a GF flour like garbanzo bean will work)
  • 3 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 Tbls. nutritional yeast (optional)
  • 1/8 tsp, cayenne or ½ tsp. hot sauce of your choice (my go-to is Cholula)
  • ½ cup dark beer
  • 3 stalks fresh celery, cut into 2” pieces

Buffalo Sauce

  • 2 cups Ketchup
  • ½ cup Hot sauce
  • 1 Tbls. Maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. Vegan Worcestershire (no anchovies)
  • 1 tsp. Liquid smoke (either flavor works)
  • ½ tsp. Garlic and onion powder
  • 2 Tbls. Balsamic vinegar

Blu Cheez

  • ⅓ cup hemp seeds
  • ¼ cup plain, unsweetened almond milk
  • 2½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 Tbls. nutritional yeast
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon tahini
  • 1/2 sheet nori, or 2 Tbls. nori flakes
  • ½ teaspoon black mineral salt (adds the egginess)
  • ½ block firm or extra firm tofu (I use sprouted tofu)

Instructions

Blu Cheez Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients for Blu Cheez, plus 1/2 of the tofu in a blender and blend on high until fully combined.
  2. While the mixture is blending, crumble the remaining tofu in a bowl.
  3. Pour the blended mixture over the tofu and toss to combine. This should be lumpy! Taste for preference and add what you think it needs for your taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cauliflower Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
  2. Prepare a baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper.
  3. Cut cauliflower into florets of roughly all the same bite-size (but don’t sweat if you have a few smaller florets)
  4. Mix your almond milk with the flour, hot sauce, nutritional yeast (if using) and garlic powder. The batter should be thicker than the consistency of pancake batter. Slowly stir in the dark beer and stir just until it’s mixed in, but don’t over mix.
  5. Using tongs, dip each cauliflower bite into the batter and coat thoroughly. Transfer coated cauliflower to prepared baking pan. Don’t crowd the pan.
  6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown.
  7. While baking, prepare your Buffalo Sauce by combining all ingredients. Taste and add more of what you want, or not!

Remove cauliflower pieces from oven when browned and they should be stiff and crispy. If they’re not, bake for another 10 minutes. Pour Buffalo sauce on all and return to oven to bake for 8-10 minutes.