Deep fried broccoli po’boy

This is my take on a classic New Orleans bread roll, served with a crunchy broccholi, spiced-up creamy tofu sauce, lettuce and tomato.

Deep fried broccoli po’boy. Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 head of broccoli

Tofu sauce

• 150 g silken tofu
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 3 dashes hot sauce (e.g. Tobasco)
• 1 tsp salt

Tempura batter

• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup cornflour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 150 ml ice-cold soda water
• Pinch of salt
• 300 ml vegetable or canola oil, for frying oil

To serve

• 1 long French stick or 4 white rolls
• 2 tomatoes, roughly diced
• ¼ of an iceberg lettuce, sliced

Instructions

1. Place the silken tofu in a blender with white wine vinegar and Tabasco. Blend until it is smooth and tasty. Set aside.
2. Cut the broccoli into manageable bite-size pieces. Cut the end and outer edges of the broccoli stem off, cut into bite-size pieces.
3. To prepare the batter, put everything into a bowl except the frying oil (and the broccoli at this stage) and mix, try to get as many lumps out as possible – don’t worry if you can’t get all of the lumps out, they can create extra crunch.
4. Put the frying oil in a deep pan or pot and bring it to 180°C (I recommend getting a thermometer to check this, they are cheap and so useful). If not, test by putting a little of the batter in. If it starts bubbling nicely, it’s ready.
5. Put the chopped broccoli into the batter and move it about to coat all of the pieces. Then, a few at a time, take out of the batter, give a little wobble to get rid of the excess batter then place gently into the hot, hot oil. Don’t overcrowd the pot, otherwise the oil temperature will drop and make the broccoli soggy and oily.
6. Fry for about 8 minutes, turning halfway through, then take out and place onto a drying rack or a bowl with a paper towel lining the bottom. Season with salt and repeat until all of the broccoli has been cooked.
7. Meanwhile, to finish, slice the iceberg into strips, dice up the tomato and put the bread in the oven for 5 minutes at 180°C or until crisp.
8. Slice the bread into four, slice open horizontally, place the tofu sauce on one side, then add the lettuce, tomato and fried broccoli.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.