Tot Failure

I'm not really sure what possessed me to try Cauliflower Tots, but I did.

So I'm a native Idahoan.  Tater Tots were invented here.  Why mess with perfection?   But I was on the store to buy cauliflower to roast. And had considered mincing some up  to replace rice for a stir fry I was planning on.  When I decided to make a sandwich out of a portabello mushroom, I was reminded of a recipe I had seen someone post about tots made out of cauliflower.

So I reviewed a dozen recipes, all the while, in the back of my head asking "Why?"
They were either full of fat from cheese & bacon, making the equal or higher in calories than the original.  Or they had crunchy ingredients like bread crumbs that pushed up the carb count.  Or both.

I focused on texture and finding a balance between fat and carbs.   I chose to hand chop my cauliflower to keep the texture chunkier. I also steamed it in the microwave for 3 minutes rather than boiling it. This was a 1 pound head.

  I used 1 cup panko breadcrumbs for crunch.  And 1 ounce of very finely shredded asiago cheese for flavor. I also added a spoon of fried garlic for both flavor and crunch.

I added 2 eggs for a binder. The texture was too loose, so I rolled it sushi style in waxed paper and put it in the freezer for 10 min.

 That didn't help. They didn't firm up.  It was a complete and utter disaster. 

I tried making balls, using a measuring spoon as a mold, as well as just mushing it together with my finger tips.  I must have spent 20 minutes trying to make blobs that would stick together. 

 Instead of baking 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, it took over 40 minutes at 450 to brown these up.

They were tasty, but not worth all the work.