Vegetable Tempura

batter makes 2 pounds; tentsuyu serves 8

Ingredients

Tentsuyu (Dipping Sauce)

  • 1 cup (see my ozoni recipe) for instructions
  • ¼ cup shoyu (soy sauce)
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
  • 1 daikon, grated
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • green onions to taste

Recommended Vegetables

  • zucchini
  • eggplant
  • kabocha (Japanese pumpkin)
  • yamaimo (Japanese sweet potato)
  • renkon (lotus root)
  • carrot
  • onion
  • haricots verts (green beans)

Batter

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1⅔ cups cold water, sparkling or still
  • panko (optional)

Instructions

Tentsuyu

  1. Prepare dashi. Add shoyu, mirin, and sugar, simmering until alcohol cooks out. Chill if serving tempura later. Take off heat to sit if serving tempura soon.
  2. Grate daikon. Juice lemon. Cut green onions. Mix ingredients together. Chill.
  3. To eat with tempura, combine tentsuyu with daikon mixture to your liking.

Tempura

  1. If using yamaimo, boil partway through. The outside should be soft enough for a chopstick to enter with ease while the inside is too hard to put the rest of the chopstick through.
  2. Cut zucchini, eggplant, yamaimo, and renkon into one-inch slices. Cut carrots, onion, and green beans into thin strips before tossing them together. If using kabocha, I wish you well in cutting it.
  3. Heat oil in a wok or shallow pot. Right before frying, mix necessary batter ingredients until dry ingredients are wet. Do not fear lumps. DO NOT OVERMIX. Your oil will be ready when small amounts of batter rise immediately after you drop it in.
  4. Cover vegetables in batter. If using panko, cover battered vegetables in it. Fry for two minutes, turning each piece over after one. Place on a cooling rack lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.
  5. Serve hot with tentsuyu. To make it a meal, serve with rice or cold soba.