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
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.