Tempura

Presenting here today - Tempura.

Tempura made up with Okra, served with tempura sauce and cucumber flower, filled with Beetroot and Ginger.

Tempura are Japanese Pakoda, they are dipped in a thin sauce and eaten sizzling hot .

Something you would like to know about it :

The dish is an expression of Japanese culture. The presentation is to be artful for this food. The art of deep-frying is said to have come to Japan from China in the 7th or 8th century. Since the cooking oil of the times was very expensive Buddhist temples were the basically the only places that served the deep-fried food. (A different source says that tempura was brought to Japan by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century.) Although tempura can be ordered by the piece, the usual approach is to get a set meal (teishoku) which has a variety of tempura, rice, pickles and soup.

Ingredients :

FOR THE TEMPURA :
Okra (Lady Fingers) , specially cut ,
Baby brinjals slices,or thin long small eggplant ,specially cut ,
Frenchbeans, specially cut ,
Sweet Potato slices,
Mild variety green chillies,slit and desseded
Oil for deep frying


FOR THE BATTER:
1 cup flour,
¼ tsp baking soda,
Salt to taste,

FOR THE TEMPURA SAUCE:
1/3 cup soya sauce
1 ½ cups water
1 tsp vinegar
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp finely grated beet root ,

FOR THE CUCUMBER FLOWER CUP:
Several 2 inch long pieces of cucumber.
Ginger minced and mixed with a little lemon juice to get nice pink color .this can be served in small cucumber flower.
Shredded beetroot, served in small cucumber flower.

Method :

FOR CUTTING THE OKRA :
Select small or medium sized Okra and remove the stems. Make slits from the broad end, keeping them attached at the top.

FOR CUTTING THE EGGPLANT :
Select tiny eggplant(baby brinjals) and remove the stems. Make slits from the broad end , keeping them attached at the top. Spread the pieces with your fingers. Soak in water till it is the time to fry them .

FOR CUTTING THE FRENCH BEANS :
String the French beans and make slits on both ends of the French bean pieces, leaving them attached at the center.

Peel sweet potato, make slices of sweet potato ,and soak in water till it is the time to fry them .


FOR THE CUCUMBER FLOWER CUP :

Take 2-3 inch ling piece of cucumber. Using a thing pointer knife , cut out circle from the top, at least 1 inch thick to give the thickness to the petals.
Cut out 3-4 petals from the outer side circle .give round shape to circle carefully using a sharp knife. Scoop out the center with a scooper and make space to fill the minced ginger and beet root in it.

FOR THE TEMPURA:
Prepare all the vegetables and keep them ready.
Mix all the ingredients for the batter and make a loose batter as for Pakodas, which will coat the vegetables lightly . Do not make it very thick. Set this batter aside for 15 minutes.
Heat the oil in a deep kadhai , dip each vegetable piece in the batter and deep fry. Drain the vegetables on brown paper.

FOR THE TEMPURA SAUCE :
Combine the soya sauce , water , vinegar ,salt and sugar. Put this mixture over a flame to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil. Remove from the flame and serve when cool.

Serve each plate of Tempura with ½ bowl of sauce and 1 tsp of grated beet root and ½ tsp of ginger. Which I served in cucumber flowers. : ) Unlike from carrot flower , it is easy to make.: )) also it looks very attractive while serving ginger and beet root this way rather than simply serving them as we serve simple chutney . :P .


Seems like a little lengthy process , huh! Well, it is! But not much , Just the writing for this is lengthy I think :)). while making it just take care to cut each vegetable its own way. I have shown the picture of it, which might help you to prepare it easily. : )


Tempura also consists of various kinds of fish & shellfish coated in a light batter and deep fried. The batter is called koromo and is made from flour, egg yolks and water. Since I don’t prefer Non-veg food any time, here is I made it my way with the all beautiful Veg. ingredients and batter.