My current “veggie kick” led me to make these waffled hash browns with just cauliflower. The cauliflower waffles were fast, tasty, and a great way to add concealed veggies to a meal.
My only caution is that you need to be fast between cooking and serving these, as I found mine to go from crispy to limp in 5 minutes or less. While this was unfortunate for the texture factor, the waffle shapes were still very enjoyable.
I used my Cuisinart griddle with waffle plates preheated to 375°F. My waffle plates have 4 slots of 4×3 inches. I used 1/4 cup of batter per slot by adding 2 cups at once and then accommodating the batter into each slot to assist in waffle removal.
Since the slower batter addition cooled my iron top lid, I had to turn each waffle to ensure both sides were crispy. This was not difficult. I never had this issue with regular batter before, so I’m assuming that it’s because of the denser veggie filling.
Each batch cooked in a total of 9 minutes with 1 minute being the turning and crisping of the top side. My waffles were crispy on the outside with creamy interiors. Since the exterior crispiness was short-lasting, I recommend having the toppings ready.
In as much as the filling of the waffle iron was a bit longer than usual and each waffle needed to be turned on the iron plates, the 4 waffles per batch were convenient for eating while still crispy.
I made mine as a “breakfast for dinner” meal with a side of Japanese style cucumber salad. For toppings, we had a trio of kewpie mayo with Thai chili jam, kewpie mayo and blue cheese, and yogurt with spicy chili crisp.
I found the interior to be a bit greasy and in future would reduce the amount of oil and forgo the mayo topping even though it was negligible. The tangy yogurt topping was the favourite. Salsa would have worked well too.
The garlic salt was sufficient salt as each person added their own salt and pepper to taste. A sprinkle of chopped scallions greens and some basil freshened up the flavours.
While this is not a recipe that I’d make frequently, I would keep it in my repertoire of fun veggie foods. You never know when you’re going to need a concealed veggie treat…
