Nauru: coconut crusted cauliflower [vegan]

It’s time to pay our first visit to Micronesia on our global, vegan adventure. We stop by Nauru and turn their national dish into a vegan Nauru recipe: coconut crusted cauliflower.

Nauru is the world’s smallest island nation (the world’s third smallest country, after the Vatican and Monaco ​[1]​). Geographically it is part of Micronesia and lies in the pacific ocean, east of Papa New Guinea. The nation fell under European rule in the late 19th century and soon developed into a mining island focusing on mining phosphorus ​[2]​. At its peak in the 1970s, the GDP of Nauru was among the highest in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia.

Cuisine of Nauru

As a small island nation, it is no surprise that Nauruan cuisine relies heavily on seafood, caught in the shallow waters surrounding the island. The only native crops currently grown on the island are coconut, pandanus fruits and pandanus leaves. Most of the island’s food is imported ​[3]–[5]​. The cuisine has influences from previous occupation by Germany, Australia and Britain. Currently, a large chinese immigrant population has helped shape the food scene and chinese food is very popular throughout the island ​[6]​. As in so many South Pacific countries, spam has become very popular (as made famous by Hawaiian cuisine) ​[7], [8]​.

The national dish of Nauru is coconut fried fish or shrimp ​[9], [10]​ but other than this, I’ve found it very hard to find authentic dishes, something other bloggers have commented on as well ​[6], [11]​. Apart from the coconut fried fish, raw fish (sashimi), spam fried rice and seafood cooked in coconut milk appear popular.

Coconut crusted cauliflower

For this post I chose to make a vegan version of the Nauruan traditional coconut crusted shrimp with tartar sauce ​[4], [12]​. Drawing inspiration from the now classic cauliflower buffalo wings served as a vegan/vegetarian option for chicken wings at so many bars, I chose to use cauliflower in place of the shrimp. I replaced the standard frying batter with the Nauruan style coating with bread crumbs and shredded coconut and deep fried the cauliflowers.

Conclusion

The multiple dipping stations with water, cornstarch, flax egg and shredded coconut/breadcrumbs used to coat the raw cauliflower pieces described in the recipe might seem tedious but was well worth it. The shredded coconut and breadcrumb mixture stuick well and the little morsels turned out very crispy. After trying the first few cauliflowers, I added a pinch of cayenne pepper to the bread crumbs (not included below). I hope you’ll give this vegan Nauru recipe a go when you have guests over next time.

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Coconut crusted cauliflower

This vegan recipe of the Nauru classic coconut fried shrimp is a great snack or starter. Serve them with lime and tartar sauce.

Course Appetizer, Snack, starter

Cuisine Micronesian, Nauru

Keyword appetizer, cauliflower, deep fried, snack, starter

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

• ½ head cauliflower
• 150 mL shredded coconut
• 75 mL bread crumbs gluten free if desired
• 1 lime zest and juice
• 75 mL corn starch
• 3 tbsp ground flax
• oil for frying

Instructions

• Prepare flax egg by mixing ground flax with 100 mL water and the lime juice. Let sit for a few minutes until thick.
• Break and cut the cauliflower into bitesize florets.
• Prepare the deep frying sequence by setting up these bowls:

  1: bowl with water

  2: bowl with corn starch

  3: Flax egg

  4: mix shredded coconut, bread crumbs, lime zest and a pinch of salt
• Heat 2-3 cm oil in a shallow pan. When hot enough for frying:

  Dip cauliflower in water followed by corn starch, flax egg and finally the cocnout/breadcrumb mixture.

  Try one piece at first, if it browns over a few minutes, the oil is hot enough. Flip the cauliflower during frying for even coloration.
• Keep dipping and frying cauliflower until all cauliflower is cooked. Working in small batches of a few florets at a time ensures the oil doesn't cool down too much.
• Serve with (vegan) tartar sauce and lime wedges.