Vegetable Tempura

The difference is in the batter - so, these are definitely not your regular deep fried vegetables!

The recipe below divulges the secret: You use sparkling water for it. What I have also had is tempura fried in a batter that used beer instead of soda water, and that was even better. The other thing that makes tempura special is the dipping sauce made out of vinegar and sugar. Normally, tempura is made out of seafood, but the vegetable only version is equally delicious.

Funnily enough, this is not an originally Japanese dish. What the Japanese did was adapting a dish that was introduced in the 1600s by Portuguese missionaries. The original dish has disappeared, but it was a meal meant for Lent, when many Christian denominations are forbidden to eat meat. In fact, the name tempura comes from the Latin 'ad tempora cuaresme', which means ‘in the time of Lent'. 'The Japanese mistook this as the dish's name and called it tempura. (Resource: www.aetnainternational.com/)

Today, tempura is an essential part of traditional Japanese cuisine and shows the Japanese brilliance for incorporating foreign foods and making them uniquely Japanese.


INGREDIENTS
  • 7 ounces plain flour
  • 3 1/2 ounces corn flour
  • Ice-cold soda or sparkling water
  • 3 pounds of assorted vegetables (see below)
Tempura Dipping Sauce:
  • 1 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 handful cilantro, chopped
  • 1 small chile, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

INSTRUCTIONS

Vegetables: 
  • Add all the flour to a bowl. With the handle of a spoon, or a chopstick, mix, and stir in the ice-cold water until the mixture is slightly thicker than buttermilk consistency. Make a point of not mixing thoroughly, as tempura is renowned for lumps of flour.
  • Dip sliced vegetables (zucchini, onions, eggplants, carrots, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, string beans, broccoli, wild mushrooms, fresh herbs, and bok choy) any vegetables will work but these are the most commonly used) into the batter mixture and shake off any excess.
  • Deep fry vegetables in a wok or deep fat fryer (you can use a frying pan if you do not have anything else, you just need about 7cm/3 inches of clean oil) at 200C/400F/Gas 6 until the batter is light golden in color and crisp. (Any large amounts of hot oil in a kitchen, especially in woks which are not always that sturdy, scare me, please be careful and do not leave the pan unattended.) Turn the vegetables at intervals to ensure that both sides are cooked equally and then fish them out with a slotted spoon, shaking off any excess oil. Place them on kitchen paper towels and eat as soon as possible. The reason that I keep going on about eating them so quickly is because as your hot cooked vegetables cool down inside the batter they begin to steam, making them less crisp as time goes on. Good tempura should be crispy and is one of those things that should be made and cooked quickly and eaten straight away.
Sauce: 
  • Pour the rice wine vinegar into a small bowl. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Taste for sweetness. Add cilantro, chile, and garlic and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and allow to sit for 10 minutes to 1 hour, for flavors to combine.

Shamelessly filched from: 
Thank you Food Network! :-)

Images: Unsplash, Pexels and Freepik.


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