Tempura Vegetables

I admit it, I've been a delinquent blogger. Contrary to what the state of my blog looks like, I'm still in school and packing lunches most days. I've sort of burned out on the lunch-making front, though, so I've stopped taking pictures since I'm sure nobody wants to see me eat fruit, carrots, and a bagel every day.

I've been pretty busy with end of the year projects and essays, but I've done a little cooking. My most successful experience being tempura vegetables. Despite my aversion to deep frying at home, I had to try these. The recipe was really easy and I'm one of those people who will eat anything deep fried. When I was an omni I would even eat deep-fried candy bars at fairs if I got a chance. If I could get a vegan variety I'd still eat them.

I saw the recipe on the vegan hedonism blog, which is awesome, you should all check it out.

Tempura Vegetables

for the tempura batter, mix the following:

1 c. unbleached white flour
3 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
and about 3/4 c. ice water

note: prepare this batter only immediately before frying the vegetables. the temperature of the batter is crucial to both how it holds to the vegetables, and also to how it cooks once submerged in the hot oil. the consistency should be smooth and just thick enough to stick to the vegetables. (i used canola oil over a high flame. about 2-3 minutes per piece should render them crispy and golden-brown at first, only 1 minute when the oil really gets going. any deep saucepan will work -- just remember to have a pair of tongs at hand!)


Before (this recipe made enough batter for all of the veggies save for a little bit of the broccoli):

After:


In the future, I'd either leave the carrots in the oil longer or not make them at all because they came out pretty crunchy. I also had to make sure to leave the potatoes in a little longer so that they would cook all the way through. Overall, the broccoli and asparagus came out the best. As a dipping sauce I mixed roughly equal parts of soy sauce and white wine vinegar with a few spoonfuls of sugar, but I'm sure you could buy a much better premade sauce or find a better recipe for sauce online.