Kakiage tempura
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Everyone loves Japanese tempura – it's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, easy to make in a pinch and great as a snack, side dish or a main course. Shuko Oda's recipe is super versatile – she uses a mixture of carrot, enoki mushrooms and shungiku greens, but you can use any seasonal veg you like, as long as they aren't too watery.
Shuko serves her tempura with salt blitzed with Hōjicha, a roasted green tea, which gives the dish a deeply savoury and complex finish.
Ingredients
- 1 baby carrot , cut into matchsticks
- 1 handful of enoki mushrooms , gently broken into clumps
- 50g of shungiku greens, large leaves torn in half
- 200g of tempura flour
- 350ml of water
- 400ml of vegetable oil
Hōjicha salt
- 100g of Hōjicha, (roasted green tea)
- 50g of salt
Equipment
- Spice grinder
Method
1
Dry-roast the Hōjicha gently in a pan for a couple of minutes, until the tea smells aromatic. Grind in a spice grinder with the salt until the mixture is finely ground, then set aside. This will make more than you need but will keep in an airtight container indefinitely
- 50g of salt
- 100g of Hōjicha, (roasted green tea)
2
Pour the vegetable oil into a deep pan and heat to 160-170ºC
- 400ml of vegetable oil
3
Mix the carrots, enoki mushrooms and shungiku greens in a bowl
- 1 baby carrot , cut into matchsticks
- 1 handful of enoki mushrooms , gently broken into clumps
- 50g of shungiku greens, large leaves torn in half
4
In another bowl, beat 150g of tempura flour with the cold water using a whisk. Rather than whisking normally, use an up and down motion to press the flour into the water – the idea is to have a slightly lumpy batter
- 350ml of water
- 200g of tempura flour
5
On a large tray, scatter the remaining 50g of tempura flour and put the vegetables on top. Mix them well with your hands to give the vegetables a thin coating of flour. Take the vegetables out of the flour, shake off any excess flour and place in the batter
6
Take a small handful of vegetables from the batter and carefully lower them into the oil. Only cook a few at a time – this helps to keep the tempura light and airy. Let the tempura fry for 1 minute on one side, then gently turn over to fry the other side. When golden brown all over, remove onto kitchen roll and sprinkle with a pinch of Hōjicha salt. Repeat with the rest of the vegetables. Serve immediately with extra salt
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Kakiage tempura
