Gobi 65- Restaurant Style Cauliflower 65

Gobi 65 or cauliflower 65 is a delicious, crispy fried snack or appetizer made of cauliflower, spices, plain flour or maida and curry leaves.

65 recipes are very popular across south Indian restaurants as snacks or appetizer. Vegetarian variations like gobi 65, paneer 65 were later developed from the original recipe of chicken 65.

This recipe of cauliflower 65 is vegan, super delicious, crispy & ready in 30 minutes. Serve as snack or side dish in south Indian meal.

Gobi or cauliflower is a very versatile vegetable that yields itself so well in many recipes. Gobi manchurian, baked cauliflower bites, cauliflower nuggets, gobi pakora are few of our all time favorites along with this gobi 65.

This crispy snack is so tasty, gets ready in minutes and tastes so good as snack and side dish. You can make it with simple pantry staple ingredients and will be a hit with everyone.

About This Recipe

Gobi 65 is a vegetarian variation of popular south Indian chicken 65 snack. It is a fried cauliflower snack served with tea or coffee.

In this recipe, par boiled cauliflower florets are dipped in a chickpea batter and deep fried. The deep fried florets are served with loads of fried curry leaves, green chilies, onion rings and lemon wedges. These toppings add a wonderful flavor punch and compliment the fried gobi so well.

Here I am sharing two ways to make gobi 65. One is the traditional deep fried method and the other one is baked cauliflower 65. Both these methods are delicious and the frying method is more crispy obviously.

There are many ways of this snack. You will find many recipes that call for a tempering, adding yogurt etc but none of the south Indian restaurants serve this snack 65 this way.

Restaurant style gobi 65 is basically fried cauliflower served with loads of crunchy curry leaves, raw onion rings, chilies. Sometimes there will be quick sprinkling of crushed black pepper or chaat masala powder.

If you make a tempering, add sauces or yogurt, it will become a dish similar to manchurian and not 65 🙂

You can serve gobi 65 as snack or starter with any beverage. It also tastes good as side dish with lemon rice, coconut rice, tomato rice, pepper rice etc. This is a wonderful dish to try if you love crispy fried snacks. This gobi 65 is

super crispy, delicious & simply addictive

vegan and gluten free

very easy to make

ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients & Substitutions

Cauliflower– Use fresh, pale and dense head of cauliflower as they taste the best. Cauliflowers tend to have tiny worms, so they should be thoroughly cleaned before using in any recipe. See my notes on how to clean cauliflower as you read.

If you wish you can use broccoli or paneer or tofu or baby corn in this recipe instead of gobi.

Flours– The batter for gobi 65 is made of plain flour or maida. You can use whole wheat flour or chickpea flour (besan) but they taste will totally vary. For restaurant style gobi 65 use plain flour. I also like to add a bit of rice flour or corn flour in this recipe. Adding these flours makes the fried cauliflower super crispy and retains their crispiness for sometime.

Spice powders– Pantry staple spice powders like garam masala powder, red chili powder, crushed black pepper are added to batter of gobi 65. You can also add a dash of chaat masala powder in the batter.

Ginger garlic– I like to add loads of freshly minced ginger and garlic for flavor. Instead you can also add store bought ginger garlic paste.

Topping Ingredients– Crispy fried curry leaves, green chilies and raw onion rings. Be generous with these toppings as they add so much taste and flavor to this snack.

Other ingredients– Salt, oil for frying & water to make the batter.

How To Make Gobi 65 Recipeq

Preparing cauliflower

Rinse the whole head of cauliflower well and wipe off excess moisture with a kitchen towel. Separate the cauliflower into bite sized florets.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add a big pinch of salt. Add the cauliflower florets and switch off the flame. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes.

Drain excess water and set the blanched cauliflower florets aside.

Making The Batter

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a small pan until it starts to smoke. Once it is very hot, remove from flame.

Add 1/3 cup plain flour & 2 tablespoons rice flour or corn starch to a mixing bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder, 1 teaspoon minced ginger garlic, 6 chopped curry leaves (torn), 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder.

Mix well with a spoon. Now add the hot oil and 1 teaspoon red chilli powder. Adding chili powder on hot oil gives a deep red color to the batter. You can also mix red chili powder with hot oil and few drops of water in a small bowl to make a paste.

Add 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup water to the flour mixture. Mix very well and make a thick batter that is lump free.

Frying Cauliflower Florets

Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy deep frying pan. The oil should be hot but not smoking (190 C/ 325 F in a thermometer).

Toss the blanched cauliflower into the prepared batter in batches. Do in 2-3 batches and not all the florets at the same time.

Slide the batter coated cauliflower pieces into the hot oil gently and deep fry.

Flip and fry well until crispy and golden brown. Maintain medium heat.

Once done, remove the fried cauliflower florets to a plate lined with kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

Add 3 sprigs or a big handful of curry leaves and 2 finely chopped green chillies to the same hot oil. Fry Until crispy. Remove to a plate.

Serving Gobi 65

Divide the fried crispy gobi among 3 serving plates. Add fried curried leaves generously. Add few fried chilies and place 1 or 2 lemon wedges. Finally add some chopped coriander leaves and serve gobi 65 immediately. Instead of lemon wedges you can also add few drops of lemon juice before serving. Serve hot for best taste.

Serve this snack while the gobi is hot else it will turn soggy. You can serve this as evening snack with tomato sauce, ketchup or on its own with tea or coffee.

Traditional chutney recipes like coconut chutney, pudina chutney does not go well with this snack.

Baked Gobi 65 Recipe

To make baked cauliflower 65 we will not make a batter, instead we will toss all the ingredients to the blanched gobi florets and bake them until crispy. Here is a quick recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups cauliflower florets

1/4 cup plain flour

1 tablespoon rice flour or corn starch.

few chopped curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice.

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste.

1 tablespoon oil

Instructions

Preheat oven at 200 C or 390 F.

Blanch cauliflower as mentioned in the recipe above.

Place the blanched florets in a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients to it and toss well.

Add 3-4 tablespoons water just to make the flours stick to the gobi.

Prepare a large baking sheet by quickly spraying it with non stick cooking spray or brush it with some oil. You can also line the baking sheet with a foil.

Place the flour tossed gobi on the baking sheet as single layer. Bake in the hot oven for 18-20 minutes. After 15 minutes, flip the florets for even baking.

Once crispy and golden, serve gobi 65 hot with tomato ketchup.

Frequently Asked Questions

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