Tempura

A few weeks ago, I was watching an early-morning livestream of Alton Brown doing his Quarantine Quitchen.  Whatever keeps you occupied during the lockdown, right?  The first episode of the Good Eats marathon he was narrating was tempura.  I went searching on this blog, and couldn't find a single recipe for it.  Really, I haven't done tempura?  The closest I got was stuffed pumpkin blossoms, which I remembered when the second episode was about squash.

Two things distinguish tempura from the kind of batter you might use on fried chicken.  The first is a reduced amount of gluten.  There is some wheat flour in the batter, but the rest is usually swapped out with rice flour or cornstarch.  I'm on a bit of a budget right now, and I couldn't find rice flour anyway, so we're going with the cornstarch I already have.  The other difference is the use of seltzer water instead of buttermilk.  Not a whole lot of dairy in Japanese food.  These substitutions create a crispier batter and a distinctive crunch.

Another way Alton cuts the gluten in his batter is by the introduction of alcohol.  I've heard of beer-batter tempura, but vodka was a new one.  Don't worry, it cooks out.  Keeping the batter over ice water slows the reaction that creates the gluten and keeps the seltzer active longer.  His third major trick is to mix only half of the batter at once.  Otherwise, by the time you get to the fish it's going to be glutinous and thick.  You're going to need a scale to split up the flour.

I wasn't paying attention when I got out the ingredients and used A.P. flour instead of cake.  It was fine.  Cake flour does have less gluten in it, if you happen to have some, but it isn't the end of the world if you use regular flour.

I didn't make a tempura sauce because I had leftover miso-tahini dressing.  If you want to make your own, it's a lot like Reuben's marinade.

The dippers are Alton's suggestions.  I skipped the tilapia and added the green onions.  There was a lot of batter left.  I considered dipping some asparagus and mushrooms, but I had already fried as much as I could eat in a few days.  You really shouldn't make more than what you can eat fresh, but that's what the 1-egg recipe made.  Leftovers can be freshened up in the toaster oven at 350º to something resembling crispy, but they'll never be as good as fresh.

5 oz cake flour (approx 1 C)
5 oz rice flour or cornstarch (forgot to measure by volume)
1 egg, beaten
*1/2 C vodka
1-1/2 C seltzer water
salt to taste
6 C oil
1 sweet potato, about 5 oz
4 oz fresh, whole green beans
4 stalks green onions
*4 stems Italian parsley
1/2 lb 20-24 ct raw shrimp, tail on
1/2 lb tilapia fillets, cut in 1" chunks
tempura sauce or other dipping sauce

1.  Wash and slice sweet potato into 1/8" thick slices crosswise.  Alton has you peeling the potato, but I didn't see a need for it.  Trim ends off green beans.  Trim roots off of green onions.  Snap longest stems off the parsley.  Check shrimp to make sure it's cleaned.

2.  In a saucepan, start heating oil over high heat.  The 1-1/2 quarts in his recipe are for a Dutch oven.  I used a saucepan just wide enough for the green beans, so it used less oil.  This recipe is going to make a mess of it.  I decided not to reuse the oil, and was glad I hadn't gotten out the deep fryer.

3.  Weigh the two flours into a bowl and whisk together.  Weigh out half of it into another container and set aside.  Separately, beat egg and vodka in a small bowl.  When the oil gets to 350º, beat in seltzer.  Separate out half of the liquids and store in the fridge.

4.  Set the bowl with the half-portion of flour in another bowl of ice.  Stir in the half-portion of wet ingredients until the large lumps are gone, about 10-15 seconds.  Set 2 layers of paper towels on a baking sheet, then set a cooling rack over it.

5.  When the oil gets to 375º, start cooking.  Dip the sweet potato slices first, allowing the batter to coat.  Hold over the bowl with tongs a few seconds to allow the excess batter to drip off, then place in the oil.  The batter is thin, and you will see just a little sticking to the item being fried.  You can add about 6 slices at a time.  Cook 2-3 minutes, until coating is crisp and potato is softened.  Move to cooling rack, sprinkle with salt if desired, allow oil to come back to temperature, and fry another round.

6.  Once the potato is done, you can start frying the rest of the items, which don't take as long to cook.  Beans and onions only take 1-2 minutes, and the parsley about 30 seconds.  When the batter runs low, add the other half-portion of flour and seltzer mix.

7.  Fry the fish and shrimp last, for food safety.  Same process: dip, drip, fry, move to cooling rack.  Make sure shrimp is pink and fish is opaque, about 2 minutes each.  I got seriously impatient near the end and made a huge mess with the batter.  I had to scrub part of the stove, but at least I didn't burn myself.

8.  Serve immediately with dipping sauce, rice, and maybe a side salad.

Difficulty rating  :)