France

Fried battered cauliflower is served in French cuisine with a tomato sauce as fritot de chou-fleur.^[11][12]

India

A wide variety of fried cauliflower dishes are found in India.

Cauliflower pakoras, battered and spiced fried cauliflower, are popular in North India and Chennai, and may be double-fried for crispness. They can be served with a tomato or peanut chutney.^[13]

One Punjabi recipe deep-fries the cauliflower first, then sautés it in spices and yogurt to nap the florets with sauce.^[14]

Israel

Fried cauliflower is found both in Mizrahi and Sephardic traditions, which were brought to Israel when Jews immigrated to Israel, often as refugees.^[15]

Among the Mizrahi, fried cauliflower was often eaten as a mezze before large meals or in various salads (often dressed with tahini sauce, strained yogurt, or citrus juice). Over time, fried cauliflower was adopted as a street food.^[16] With the rise of fine dining in Israel, Israeli chefs have incorporated versions of the dish into their cooking, where it may be an important main dish.^[17]

In Israel, fried cauliflower is commonly served at falafel, shawarma, hummus, and sabich stands, often in a sandwich or as part of a salad bar: "Fried cauliflower is a staple of falafel-shop salad bars".^[16]

It is commonly served plain just with some salt. It may also be served with strained yogurt, tahini sauce, amba, zhug, or other condiments.^[18]

The Sephardic version, culupidia frita, is battered and often served with lemon (culupidia frita con limón),^[19] which is sometimes simmered with the cauliflower until it evaporates.^[20]

Italy

An early Italian recipe for fried cauliflower (1822) first parboils it, then breads it and fries it in oil or lard.^[21] Various versions of the dish are found in later cookbooks.^[22]

It continues to be part of the repertoire of Italian cuisine,^[23] and is sold as a street food in Sicily.^[24]

Levant

In Levantine cuisine as found in Lebanon,^[25] Syria, and Palestine fried cauliflower, zahra mekleyah (Arabic: الارنبيط المقلي, زهره مقليه), is served cold or hot.

It may be served in a sandwich of pita bread or sandwich bread, often toasted and sprinkled with cumin, salt, and lemon juice. It is also served as a side dish.^[26]

It may be battered or not.^[27]

Common accompaniments include tarator.^[28]

Variations include curried and roasted cauliflower, bell peppers, or a garlic lemon vinaigrette. The Syrian menazla zahra is cooked with garlic, ground beef, cilantro, cumin, and salt.^[27]

Fried cauliflower is also an ingredient in maqluba, a sort of pilaf with meat and vegetables on top.^[29]

United States

Fried cauliflower from Indian, Israeli, Italian, and Levantine^[30] traditions is found in the United States.

The Israeli versions are often found at Israeli, kosher, Jewish, and falafel restaurants. The growing fashion both for cauliflower^[1] and for Israeli cuisine^[31] has contributed to its popularity.

Some variants include serving with a white wine vinaigrette, currants, and pine nuts,^[32] frying a whole head and serving with a beet tahini sauce;^[33] or with a herbed labneh sauce.^[34]