Vegetables Tempura

Yasai Tenpura

Possibly of Portuguese origin, tempura is a popular dish of lightly battered fried seafood or vegetables.

Ingredients

Tempura batter
100	g	tempura flour mix
160	ml	ice water
Vegetables
		lotus root, slices
		aubergine, slices
		fresh shiitake
		sweet potato, thin slices
		shiso leaves
		nori

Steps

Prepare all the vegetables first. Peel the lotus root, cut crosswise into thin slices about 1/2 cm thick, and soak in water with some lemon juice or vinegar in it to prevent discolouration.

Slice the sweet potatoes and aubergines into 1/2 cm rounds. If the shiitakes are too big, you can cut them in half.

Heat the oil for frying. Sift the tempura flour and add it to the ice water. Stir gently with chopsticks. It should be lumpy. Make only small batches of batter at a time. That will ensure a crispy tempura structure when fried.

Dust the vegetables in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip into the batter and fry till they are golden brown. You do not need to flour the shiso leaves and nori. They can be battered and fried immediately.