Tempura Vegetables (Also Fish, Shrimp or Calamari Rings)

Dreamer in Ontario's Note:

My daughter has been asking me to make tempura so I've been on the lookout for recipes. This recipe was found in the LCBO's Food & Drink Spring 2009 magazine. For the best results, make sure you don't over mix the batter. The beer and rice flour produce a delicate, crispy batter. ***You can replace some of the veggies with fish, peeled shrimp or calamari rings if desired.*** I've listed those ingredients as optional. You can also experiment with other veggies.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ¾ cup light beer
• ¾ cup rice flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 small sweet potato
• vegetable oil or peanut oil , for frying
• 8 asparagus spears , trimmed
• 16 sugar snap peas , trimmed
• 1 small red pepper , cut into 1/4 inch rings
• 8 large shrimp , peeled and deveined (optional)
• 8 squid rings (optional)
• 1 pinch sea salt (optional)
• 1 fish fillet , cut into bite sized pieces (optional)
• soy sauce (for dipping)
• 1 white radish , peeled grated (daikon)
• 2 lemons , cut into wedges

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the beer into the flour until just combined (will be a bit lumpy).
2. Stir in salt and cayenne.
3. Peel sweet potato and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch slices.
4. Using a large heavy saucepan, deep fryer or wok, heat 2 inches of oil over medium-high heat to 350°F.
5. In batches of 3 or 4 pieces, dredge veggies in batter to coat completely, letting excess drip off.
6. Fry, turning, until golden coloured (2 to 3 minutes).
7. With a slotted spoon, remove cooked vegetables from pan and transfer to paper towel lined, rimmed baking sheet to drain off excess oil.
8. Season with a pinch of sea salt if desired.
9. Keep warm in oven set to 200F while frying remaining veggies.
10. Each diner should have a little bowl of soy sauce, a tiny dish of grated white radish (daikon) and a few lemon wedges to season his/her food.
11. Serve with hot rice.

Reviews

[Lavender Lynn]

We made this as part of our asian dinner fest last night. We ran into 2 problems. The batter didn't stick well to the ingredients we used, my DH added more flour but it didn't help. The flavor of beer was too strong. I didn't use light beer because we didn't have any. I am not giving any stars because it isn't fair to you if I didn't use the beer you listed in recipe. I appreciate having this recipe to try last night. It is definitely out of the norm for us and added a good dimension to our dinner. Made for ZWT6 for the Voracious Vagabonds.