Vegetable Tempura

VEGETABLE TEMPURA 

Ingredients

• Oil for deep frying (Vegetable oil:Sesame oil=10:1)

Tempura Ingredients

• 1 small Japanese sweet potato (satsumaimo)
• ⅛ medium Kabocha squash
• 2 inch peeled and precooked lotus root (“Renkon no Mizuni”)
• 2 King oyster mushrooms
• 4 Shiso leaves

Tempura Batter (rule is egg water:flour=1:1)

• 1 cup (240 ml) egg water (1 cold large egg (40ml) + 200 ml ice water)
• 1 cup (240 ml) cold all purpose flour

Tempura Sauce

• ¾ cup (200ml) dashi (Kombu dashi for vegetarian)
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. mirin
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 inch daikon radish

Directions

1.      First, make Tempura Sauce. Combine dashi stock, mirin, sugar, and soy sauce in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat and let it simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Now cut vegetables. Slice Japanese sweet potato into thin pieces and soak in water for 15-30 minutes to remove excess starch. Then dry them using paper towels.

Cut kabocha squash and lotus root into thin slices. Soak lotus root in vinegar water (2 cups water + 1 tsp. vinegar).

Cut King Oyster Mushroom into thin slices.

Discard the head of eggplant first, then cut it in half lengthwise. Then cut the eggplant lengthwise into very thin (about ⅛ inch) slices leaving the top 1-inch part intact. Gently press down on the eggplants to fan the slices out.

In a deep fryer, heat 1½" (3 cm) of the oil to 356F (180C). To make batter, sift the flour into a large bowl.

Add the egg into very cold water.

Whisk vigorously and discard the form on the surface.

As you slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour, mix the batter with chopsticks in a figure 8 motion (mix about at most 1 minute). Do not over mix and please leave some lumps in batter. Keep the batter cold all the time.**

Start deep frying from the root vegetables as oil temperature needs to be a bit lower than non-root vegetables. If the ingredient is wet, dry them with paper towel before dredging in the batter.***

For root vegetables, deep fry around 320°F (160°C). For vegetables and mushrooms, 338-356°F (170-180°C). Do not over crowd with ingredients. Remember you only put ingredients taking up about ½ of oil surface area.*** For shiso leaves, sprinkle a bit of sifted flour on the back of leaves and dip only the back of leaf into the batter and deep fry for 15 seconds.****

Transfer tempura to a wired rack or paper towel to remove excess oil.

Between batches, remove the crumbs which will burn and turn the oil darker if left in fryer.

Grate daikon and squeeze water out. Serve with tempura and when you eat it, place the grated daikon in tempura sauce. Serve tempura immediately.

Notes

• Make batter right before deep frying to avoid activation of wheat gluten.
• * Add 1-2 ice cubes in the batter or put the batter bowl in a larger bowl containing ice water in order to keep the batter cold all the time.
• ** While tempura is being fried, moisture from the ingredients will be evaporated and tempura will become crispy. However, if the ingredients have extra moisture, the tempura will become soggy after being deep fried. 
• ** When you put too many ingredients, the oil temperature will drop quickly. Make sure to keep the right temperature all the time.
• **** Usually vegetable doesn't require extra dusting with flour (like we need for seafood like Shrimp Tempura or Kakiage), but shiso leaves require dusting which will require as a glue and the batter will stick to the leaves.

Recipe and Pictures adapted from Justonecookbook