If the produce drawer in your refrigerator is well stocked with vegetables, do what I did and use some up by making tasty tempura.
It’s a Japanese dish where vegetables and other items, such as mushrooms and prawns, are dipped in batter, fried and served with a dip. The Japanese have been making tempura for hundreds of years. How it became part of their cuisine is an interesting story.
According to several sources, in the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries came to Japan, bringing their traditions and cuisine with them. One of those traditions was observing Ember Days, Qautuor Tempora in Latin, the four feast days of the Catholic calendar, during which meat is off the menu.
On those days, lore suggests the missionaries prepared fish and vegetables in a way they did at home, coating them in a batter and frying them. This technique was new to Japan at the time. But it eventually became very popular and became known as tempura, derived from the Latin word Tempora.
According to Lesley Downer’s book At the Japanese Table, the Japanese improved on the technique, devising a lighter batter and cooking with lighter oil. They clearly came up with something people liked, because tempura is now a staple of their cuisine and served and enjoyed in Japanese restaurants around the world.
As with any dish that has been made for centuries, how tempura is prepared can vary from cook to cook, recipe to recipe, mainly in how the batter is prepared.
In the dozen or so recipes I looked at, some batters were simply made with flour, eggs and water. Others used egg yolks instead of whole eggs. In some recipes, lower-in-gluten cake flour was called for. In others, a mix of all-purpose flour and cornstarch was used to create that lower gluten content, said to yield a crispier, less doughy batter when fried.
In some recipes I read, including some of my own in the past, leaveners, such as baking powder, and bubbly soda water, instead of still water, were mixed in, with the goal of making the batter puff up when fried. And, in some other recipes, the batter was mixed until smooth, while many others were left a little lumpy.
There were other differences, such as how thick the batter should be. But one thing that was agreed upon in all the recipes I read was that the tempura batter should be very cold. Because when that cold batter hits the hot oil, it causes a bigger reaction, making it crisp and light.
In today’s recipe, I opted to go with a tempura batter that was still a little lumpy after mixing. When fried, it creates appealing, jagged edges on the vegetables. Speaking of those vegetables, many different types can be used to make tempura, as noted in my recipe ingredient list. Simply choose the ones that appeal to you. Mushrooms, such as shiitakes, can also be used.
Vegetable Tempura
Serve this tempura as a snack or appetizer, or as a main-course, with rice and a salad, such as a Japanese-style slaw.
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: three to four minutes, per batch of tempura
Makes: two generous (10 to 12 piece) servings
For tempura dip (see Eric’s options)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp dashi (see Note 1)
2 Tbsp mirin (see Note 2)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp ground ginger, or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
For tempura
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (divided)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup cold water
20 to 24 pieces of fresh vegetables and mushrooms, such as small broccoli florets, medium shiitake mushrooms (stems removed) or small white mushrooms, thin slices of yam, rings of onion, trimmed asparagus spears or green beans, thin diagonal slices Japanese-style eggplant, thin slices or sticks of zucchini, and/or thin slices of squash
• vegetable oil for deep-frying
Prepare tempura dip by combining its ingredients in a small pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.
Set a wire rack over a baking sheet. Set vegetables on a second baking sheet, sprinkle with the 1 Tbsp flour, and toss lightly to coat each piece. Heat the oil in your deep fryer to 350 F (see Eric’s options). Preheat your oven to 200 F.
Thoroughly combine the 3/4 cup flour, cornstarch and salt in a bowl. Set a second bowl in a larger bowl of ice (this will help make the batter very cold). Add the egg and beat well. Now beat in the water. Add the flour mixture and mix with a fork until a slightly lumpy batter forms.
To fry vegetables and mushrooms, working in two or three batches, dip and coat them in the batter, and then carefully set in the hot oil. Deep-fry them until light golden, about three to four minutes. Set the cooked vegetables and mushrooms on the wire rack; keep warm in the oven until the rest are fried. Arrange the tempura vegetables and mushrooms on a serving tray, or in two individual shallow bowls or dinner plates, and serve with a bowl of the tempura dip.
Note 1: Dashi is a stock made from bonito — dried, fermented tuna flakes. Packets of powdered bonito you can use to quickly make dashi are sold at Japanese food stores, such as Fujiya at 3624 Shelbourne St., and at some grocery stores. I bought a packet of Hondashi brand bonito soup stock in the Asian foods aisle at Fairway market. Mix 1/2 tsp with 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp boiling water to yield the dashi you need for the tempura dip.
Note 2: Mirin, a sweet, sake-based condiment, is sold in the Asian foods aisle of most supermarkets and at Japanese food stores.
Eric’s options: If making your own tempura dip is too much bother, you can buy bottles of ready-to-use tempura dip, such as Kikkoman brand, in the Asian foods aisle of some grocery stores. If you don’t have a deep fryer, set four or so inches of vegetable oil into an eight-inch or so wide pot. Set over medium-high heat and warm oil to 350 F. Adjust the heat as needed to maintain that temperature. Carefully fry the tempura, in batches, as described in the recipe.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
