Thursday, March 18, 2010

Tempura



So much for not having fried stuff... but we did have this with a side of stir fried vegies!!

I've always wanted to make tempura at home. This recipe is not bad, but it is not as crunchy and the colour is not as golden as the tempura that you get in a restaurant. Maybe egg yolk in the batter or yellow food colouring? Or has anyone tried using premade tempura flour? Let me know if you have a good recipe please...

OoohhHhh... I just realise  that I might have just used too much potato flour in my batter. No wonder it was quite sticky! You can use any  firm vegetables (eg sweet potato, eggplant, carrots) or seafood that you like. I only had a zucchini in the fridge. Dust all your ingredients lightly with plain flour before dipping in the batter. Also, don't think I will attempt with scallops again, too much water content. I think I'll have to try this recipe again guys... the second time with the right measures of flour!

Tempura batter Recipe

1/4 cup potato starch
1 cup plus 1 tbsp plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup iced water

Pour water into a bowl. Add the all the other ingredients at once and just give a few light strokes with a pair of chopsticks to loosely combine. There should be flour around the edges and the batter should be lumpy.
Dip your ingredients with the batter and deep fry in hot oil until golden.Serve with dipping sauce

Dipping sauce

1 1/4 cup dashi (1/4 tsp dashi granules mixed with hot water)
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup light soy Kikkoman brand

Combine all the above in a saucepan. Heat and keep warm until ready to use.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doreen: Jo, yesterday my mum and I ate we made tempura vegies using delicious baby eggplant (forgotten exactly what it's called but it is round, light purple in colour and about the size of a baby's fist), white zucchini and fresh shitake mushrooms. I find 'Woomtree tempura batter mix' works excellently - no mess no fuss! I think the key is the ice cold water and mixing the batter as minimally as possible as you have already mentioned. And of course having delicious fresh ingredients. Deeee-licious!

Jo Jo said...

Thanks for the tip Doreen! Where can I find this woomtree tempura mix? Also, I've re-tried my tempura recipe and used some baby zucchinis given to me by Lyndia, and it turned out great! I served it with a garlic aoili and I will be posting that blog soon.

P/s: The eggplants you are describing are Thai eggplantS! Great in curries too...

Anonymous said...

Yummo! Lyndia has fed us her tempura baby zucchinis before and we love them! I always thought Thai eggplants only come in marble-sized green colour but since googling it I discovered the ones that match what we had!
Unfortunately I cant remember where i got the tempura mix from but i have a feeling it was somewhere really generic like safeway or coles! Sorry nothing exotic! I am too lazy to homemake stuff like you!