Vegetable Tempura

Vegetable Tempura

Well, Halloween is just around the corner and the shops are full of pumpkins. Personally, I think pumpkin is such a delicious vegetable, it's too good to only eat at Halloween. Here's a recipe for some vegetarian tempura including pumpkin (or kabocha as it is called in Japan) along with shiso leaves, carrot and aubergine.

The keys to this recipe are:

A/. cut the vegetables thin to get crisp tempura and,

B/. get the temperature of the oil right and keep it there (check by dropping in a little bit of batter - if it rises bubbling to the surface, the oil is hot enough to start.

C/. don't crowd out the oil with too many pieces of tempura at one time and last,

D/. remember that the shiso leaves will be ready in under a minute but the thicker veg will take longer.

That apart, vegetable tempura is easy to prepare and makes for a very healthy lunch or dinner. Take a look at some of my other recipes to get ideas about combining this tempura with some other dishes for a real Japanese feast! You can find the written recipe by clicking Vegetable Tempura and the Youtube video tutorial by clicking Vegetable Tempura.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

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ingredients: (2 portions)

4 thin slices, aubergine

4 shiso (oba) leaves

60 g carrot, cut into sticks

100g japanese pumpkin, thinly sliced

for the tempura batter:

70g self raising flour

40g cornflour

1/2 egg, beaten

140ml water

oil for deep frying

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how to:

fill 1/4 of a sauce pan with veg oil and heat to 180’C

to make the tempura batter, put the self raising flour, cornflour, egg & water in a bowl and mix well

to check the temperature of the oil, drop a small piece of batter in the oil and if it floats, you’re ready to go

dip the shiso in the batter and deep fry quickly in the oil, turning once or twice for about 1 min,　remove and drain on a piece of kitchen paper

repeat with the rest of the vegetables

the pumpkin will take longer to cook - test it with a fork to be ensure the flesh has softened (2-3 mins)

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Vegetable Tempura