Japanese cuisine · Vegetable Dishes

Yasai no Tempura Moriawase

Mixed vegetable tempura of sweet potato, kabocha, shiitake, shiso and bell pepper in a paper-thin batter.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 300 g sweet potatoes
• 300 g kabocha squash
• 8 fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 8 shiso leaves
• 2 green bell peppers
• 150 g flour
• 50 g cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 250 ml ice-cold water
• 800 ml frying oil
• 200 ml dashi with 4 tbsp soy sauce and 3 tbsp mirin (dip)
• 10 cm daikon radish

Instructions

1. Cut the sweet potato and kabocha into 7 mm thin slices, quarter the peppers lengthwise, remove the shiitake stems and pat everything thoroughly dry — moisture makes the batter slide off.
2. For the dip, bring dashi, soy sauce and mirin to a boil, pour into four small bowls, finely grate the daikon, press out lightly and set aside.
3. Heat the frying oil in a deep pot to 175°C — a drop of batter must sink halfway down and immediately rise back up.
4. Only now whisk the egg with the ice-cold water, sift the flour and cornstarch over it in one go and stir loosely with just a few chopstick strokes; the batter must stay deliberately lumpy.
5. Draw the vegetable pieces one by one through the batter, let excess drip off and deep-fry in batches for 2–3 min. until the coating is pale golden and audibly crisp; dip the shiso leaves on one side only and fry for 30 sec.
6. Drain each batch immediately on a rack and serve loosely stacked with the warm dip and grated daikon.