SPRING VEGETABLE TEMPURA

Best Season: Spring

Ingredients

Tempura Batter

100 grams Cake flour
150 grams Cold water
30 grams Vegan mayonnaise

Vegetables

50 grams Udo (similar to white asparagus)
50 grams Sora mame (fava beans)
15 grams Gyōja ninniku (wild ramps)

Instructions

1
MAKING THE TEMPURA BATTER. Whisk the water and the mayonnaise together until they are homogeneous. It will look like almond milk when done. Add the flour to a large bowl and pour in the liquid. Use a pair of chopsticks to gently mix the batter. Do not overmix; this will activate the gluten and result in a dense chewy dough, rather than a crispy coating when fried. Stop mixing before you think that it looks right to help avoid this. If the batter looks a little bit lumpy that is a good thing. Put the bowl into the refrigerator to keep it cold while you prepare the vegetables.
2
PREPARING THE VEGETABLES. Use whatever is local and seasonal wherever you are.
3
FRYING THE TEMPURA. Pre-heat the oil to 170°C. Until you get used to judging temperature by listening to the oil, a fryer safe thermometer is recommended.
4
TO SERVE. Divide the vegetables evenly onto individual serving plates, and serve with a side of plain sea salt or seasoned sea salt such as matcha salt. I made chrysanthemum salt because I had some dried flowers leftover in my kitchen and I didn't want them to go to waste. A general rule of thumb is to use equal parts salt and seasoning by weight. So if you are using 3 grams of matcha powder, use 3 grams of sea salt. If that is too salty for your taste, just reduce the salt the next time you make it until you get the balance you prefer.

Note

USE A LOW-PROTEIN FLOUR. Cake flour has 6-9% protein content, which is the target range for tempura. Lower protein means less gluten, and less gluten means crispier tempura. If you don't have cake flour, you can use a combination of all-purpose flour and cornstarch or potato starch (my preference). Just substitute about 1/3 of the total weight of flour with whichever starch you decide to use.

MIX JUST BEFORE FRYING. As the batter sits, the proteins - glutenin and gliadin - in the flour bind together, forming gluten. This is desirable when making bread or pizza dough, but not for tempura. If the batter sits for too long after mixing, rather than light and airy the coating will be dense and chewy. Try to use the batter within 30 minutes of making it.

FRY IN SMALL BATCHES. A drop in temperature slows the cooking process and increases oil absorption, resulting in a less crispy or even soggy texture. The ideal range for frying tempura is 170°C-180°C. Frying in small batches helps keep the temperature constant.