Vegetable Tempura
Disparate vegetables coated in an ice-cold, barely-mixed batter and plunged into oil at exactly the right temperature — emerging in a gossamer-thin, shatteringly crisp shell so delicate it is nearly transparent, the vegetable's own steam driving pockets of airy lightness beneath.
Ingredients
For 4 servings · tick what is ready
Use the scaled ingredient list. Steps and temperatures stay unchanged; use a larger pan or dish if needed. Seasonings to taste stay to taste.
How to make it
Prepare vegetables: slice sweet potato 6mm thick, clean shiitake and score the caps, top and tail green beans, slice lotus root 5mm thick, cut red pepper into wide strips. Pat all vegetables completely dry — any surface moisture prevents batter adhesion and causes dangerous oil splatter. Dust lightly with flour (the second function flour serves after structural gluten — it acts as a primer for batter adhesion). Keep everything cold until the moment of frying.
This step must be done RIGHT BEFORE frying — never in advance. Combine the egg yolk with the ice-cold sparkling water and stir briefly. Add both flours at once and stir with chopsticks or a fork only 8–10 strokes. The batter must remain lumpy, floury, and obviously under-mixed. Large dry flour streaks are normal and desirable. Do not be tempted to mix until smooth — gluten development is the enemy of tempura.
Heat the oil to exactly 170–175 C (340–345 F) — use a thermometer. Dip each vegetable piece briefly in the batter (let excess drip for just 1 second) and lower into the oil. Fry in small batches to maintain oil temperature — too many pieces cools the oil and produces soggy results. Fry 2–3 minutes until the batter sets to a very pale, almost white-gold. Drain on a rack. Serve within 2 minutes.
About this recipe
By ForkRecipe Kitchen · Source: ForkRecipe / FoodML and contributors. Recipe content available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Serving count is an estimate; check quantities in the source recipe.