Tempura anyone?

dragoriana

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Tristans mum made some on the weekend, and it inspired me. So i've just made it with pieces of onion, brocolli, cauliflower, potato and sweet potato (don't have many veges in the fridge atm lol) made the dipping sauce with rice bran oil, soy sauce, hoi sin sauce and accidentaly put in worcestershire lmao.



Anyone want to try some?
 

nekochan

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Yum! I love vegetable tempura... I almost always get it when I go to my favorite Japanese restaurant.
 
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dragoriana

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

The only "Tempura" I know is a batter but you don't eat it by itself. It's used to coat fish for deep frying.

Is that what you mean?
mmm yes i made the tempura with vegetables instead of fish. You coat them the same way you do with seafood then fry.
 

abbycats

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How do you make tempura? I tried it years ago and it didn't turn out as good as I wanted it to.... I know it's easy but I didn't have the magic touch.
 

cococat

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Please give us more detailed instructions on how you made it. Sounds great!
 
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dragoriana

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Originally Posted by cococat

Please give us more detailed instructions on how you made it. Sounds great!
Batter - 1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of ice water
1 egg (i used 4 quail eggs)

Now one of the recipes i read said you have to be really careful not to overmix due to lumps. But i just whisked the eggs a little, added in the flour and water, and whisked it all up with a egg beater till smooth. It is a very thin, runny batter, not like pancake mix.

Dipping sauce - There are many recipes. I used 1tbs soy sauce, 1tbs hoi sin sauce, 1tbs honey, 1tbs rice brain oil and accidentaly added 1tbs of worcestershire (mistook is for soy) but tastes fine
(btw, you don't need to add the oil to the sauce, i won't next time) stir it all up till the honey is dissolved.

Now you can use veges or seafood. I sliced up sweet potato & potato into pieces about 2 inches long, 1/2 cm thick, if that's too complicated, just cut them into finger sizes :p We have lots of frozen veges, i picked out a handful of broccoli and cauliflower florets (defrosted them in a little warm water, if you don't know what they are, they are pretty much the smallest bunches at the end) and an onion, i quartered it, and peeled away the larges pieces (the very middle bits are too tiny to dip).

Now another recipe also said at least 3 inches of oil, i think i got away with about 2. The deeper and wider the pot, the less of a risk you have of oil splatter and burning yourself, and there's more space to cook. Put the gas on the stove to high, this might take maybe 10 minutes to when you hear the oil is starting to make a few little popping noises (you won't see it boiling/bubbling at the top like water does). Dip each individual piece of vegetable into the batter, you don't have to immerse it, the end you hold can stay unconvered. Let it drip any excess for a second, and drop into the pot. Now only add as many as will fill the surface of the pot, as they can end up sticking together.

Cooking time is something i didn't know about. I cooked the potato and sweet potato first. And to be frank, it's an experiment. Every once in a while stir the veges around with a big spoon (preferably one with holes in it). You may just have to test a piece out to see how they're cooking. Recipes i've found say the batter should become a golden colour, mine was mostly white, with little golden bubbles, and the unbattered tips of the veges go brown.

I did the onion/cauliflower/brocolli in a second bath as they are quicker to cook.

After each batch is cooked lay them out onto paper towling to suck out any extra oil.

Now, you can eat this all yourself
or share. Just dip the pieces into the sauce, i find one dip and eat the whole piece is enough, as the sauce may be a little salty for some.




Wow it was hard remembering all of that
 

cococat

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That was very nice for you to take the time to write that. Thank you.
 

catnip

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That recipe sounds great; I'll definitely try it once I'm feeling well again.
 
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