There’s so much to love about a good sizzler. Packed with a perfect balance of carbs, protein and fresh veggies, sizzlers get their name from the sizzle of a searing-hot sauce being poured over a red-hot plate. The choice of sauce is everything, unifying the flavours and textures of the dish with a glorious intensity. If you’re looking to get started, here’s an easy sizzler recipe that draws a depth of Indo-Chinese inspired “hot and sour” flavours, pulling together a substantial Asian meal that just happens to be vegan too!
What You Will Need:
You can’t have a sizzler without a sizzler tray – a wooden tray over which a cast-iron/ metal pan is placed. A wide selection is readily available via https://www.amazon.in/.
Assembling The Sizzlers:
- As a first step, the best sizzler recipes always require greasing your sizzler pan with butter and lining it with cabbage leaves before heating it.
- Always heat the sizzler pan over low heat, arranging the various components (cooked beforehand) on the pan while it is heating.
- Simultaneously heat the sauce (in another pan), pouring it over the sizzler pan when the pan is red hot.
- Switch off the gas and add a touch of more melted butter on the sides of the sizzler pan to make it sizzle even more!
- Exercise extreme caution when lifting the sizzler pan from the stove and placing it on the wooden tray. Serve immediately.
For more on how to make sizzlers at home, have a read here.
The Best Sizzler Recipe
The Best Sizzler Recipe With A Hot & Sour Sauce
Packed with a perfect balance of carbs, protein and fresh veggies, the highlight of this vegan Asian-inspired sizzler is the Hot & Sour sauce poured over a red-hot sizzler plate.
Equipment
- Sizzler trays (a wooden tray over which a cast-iron/ metal pan is placed).
Ingredients
For the Sizzler Sauce
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- 1½ tbsp mirin
- ¼ cup light soy sauce
- 1½ tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp Sriracha or sambal oelek (adjust according to taste)
- 1½ tsp brown sugar (adjust according to taste)
- 1½ tbsp finely chopped ginger
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1½ tbsp finely chopped green onions (white part only ; you can use the chopped green stalk to garnish the final dish or add it to your fried rice)
- 2 tsp chopped Kashmiri chilli flakes (boiled first and then chopped)
- A pinch of Sichuan peppercorns
Sweet Potato Fries
- 2-3 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 – 2 tbsp cornflour (as required)
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- good crack of black pepper
For the Sizzler
- 1 cup black or brown rice
- 1 – 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 cups chopped veggies of choice (baby corn, bell peppers, green beans, carrots etc.)
- Silken-Firm or extra-firm tofu (optional; press it between two kitchen towels to drain it of excess water)
- cabbage leaves (to line the sizzler plate)
- butter (for greasing the sizzler plate)
Instructions
Prepare the Sizzler Sauce
- Whisk together the rice vinegar, soy sauce, mirin and Sriracha (or sambal oelek). Add cornflour, water and sugar and whisk vigorously until it has completely dissolved.
- Heat a tbsp of oil in a large skillet. Sauté the chopped onions until they turn translucent. Add the garlic, ginger, peppercorns and chopped chillies and sauté until fragrant.
- Add the vinegar-based mixture and stir, cooking until the sauce thickens.
- Taste and adjust depending on preference (you can add more sugar if you’d like it sweeter; a dash more Sriracha/ sambal oelek if you’d prefer it with spicier. You can also add a splash of water if you need to thin the sauce down a tad to a pourable consistency. Remove from heat.
Bake the Sweet Potato Fries
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, greasing well to ensure the fries don’t get stuck to the pan.
- Clean and peel the sweet potatoes, cutting them into the shape of fries (about a ¼” wide and ¼” thick). Make sure they are of similar size (so that they bake evenly).
- Add the fries to a mixing bowl. Drizzle with avocado or olive oil, cornflour sea salt and a crack of black pepper, tossing together until the fries are lightly and evenly coated.
- Arrange the fries in a single layer (don’t overcrowd them on the baking sheet) and bake for 20 – 30 minutes or so, removing the tray at the half way mark and rotating it before putting it back in the oven to finish baking evenly through. Remove once the fries are crisp and baked to a golden perfection. Set aside.
Prepare Everything Else
- Cook the black or brown rice according to the instructions on the packet.
- Heat a tbsp of sesame oil in a non-stick skillet, slowly adding the veggies. Sauté until cooked but with a firm bite, before seasoning with salt and pepper as per taste.
- If adding tofu: heat the remaining tbsp of sesame oil in another pan. Coat the tofu in a bit of cornflour and pan-fry until firm and golden on both sides.
Assemble It All Together
- Grease your sizzler pan with butter and line it with cabbage leaves before heating it over a low flame. While it is heating up, arrange the rice, veggies, baked sweet potato fries and tofu.
- Heat the sizzler sauce.
- Once the sizzler pan is searingly hot, pour over the sizzler sauce. Switch off the gas and add a bit more melted butter along the sides of the pan for an extra sizzle.
- Lift the pan very carefully, placing it on the wooden tray and serve immediately.
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