VEGETABLES TEMPURA

 Take care when making these crispy batter covered vegetables. Any recipe that involves hot oil requires caution. Do not leave the pot of boiling oil unattended. I don’t really believe in deep-frying because of the problem of the waste of the oil. I use a smaller amount of oil and cook in very small batches. 

 6 green beans (trimmed and cut into halves)

 1 carrot (sliced thinly lengthwise)

½ red capsicum (trimmed and sliced)

 6 baby spinach leaves (washed and well dried)

½ zucchini (sliced thinly lengthwise)

BATTER

 1 cup plain flour

 1 cup ice water

 1 egg

½ cup vegetable oil for frying

 METHOD

1. Cut vegetables into the required sizes. Make the batter. Gently whisk one egg and then gently whisk in the iced water. Add the flour to the mix all in one go. Lightly beat the batter with a chopstick (no more than 10 seconds). The batter should look lumpy and not mixed properly in order to get a light batter.

 2. Heat the oil. It is hot enough when a small amount of batter dropped into the pot spins to the surface.

3. Dip each piece of vegetable into the batter with your fingers. Shake off the excess batter and drop gently in the oil. Be careful of your fingers.

 4. After the underside of the coated vegetable has turned light golden brown turn it with tongs and allow the other side to cook to a similar light golden brown. Remove and place on crumpled kitchen paper. Only have about 2 to 3 pieces of vegetable in the pot at any one time.

 5. When finished allow the oil to cool and dispose of it thoughtfully. 6. Arrange Tempura Vegetables on a decorative plate and add salt and pepper as required. Serve with thinly sliced cucumber.

Serves 1

Variations: Any kind of vegetable can be used – sweet potato thinly sliced, sugar snap peas, broccoli florets, sliced mushrooms, rocket leaves.