Zucchini Tempura Recipes

TEMPURA ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• If the zucchini is large, remove the seeds with a spoon or melon baller before slicing. Slice the zucchini into fingers about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Note: thinner fingers cook faster than thick ones, so think French fries more than potato wedges.
• In a small bowl whisk together the soy, ginger, sugar, garlic and chili sauce (if using). Adjust seasoning to taste. Set aside.
• Mix flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt together with a whisk to blend thoroughly. When the oil reaches 350°F (see note below if you don't have a candy thermometer), whisk in enough cold seltzer water or cold plain tap water to make the batter the consistency of heavy cream.
• Dip the zucchini in the tempura batter and gently add to the oil. Fry until golden and cooked all the way through. This takes between 5 and 7 minutes, but will vary with thickness of the zucchini slice and how hot the oil is. The oil's temperature will drop when you add the battered vegetables, so allow the oil to come back up to heat between batches. As soon as the zucchini slices are golden and cooked, remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon or spider. Place on several layers of paper towel to drain.
• Eat while still hot. Serve with dipping sauce.

VEGETABLE TEMPURA

Steps:

• Add all the flour to a bowl. With the handle of a spoon, or a chopstick, mix, and stir in the ice-cold water until the mixture is slightly thicker than buttermilk consistency. Make a point of not mixing thoroughly, as tempura is renowned for lumps of flour.
• Dip sliced vegetables (zucchini, onions, eggplants, carrots, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, string beans, broccoli, wild mushrooms, fresh herbs, and bok choy) any vegetables will work but these are the most commonly used) into the batter mixture and shake off any excess.
• Deep fry vegetables in a wok or deep fat fryer (you can use a frying pan if you do not have anything else, you just need about 7cm/3 inches of clean oil) at 200C/400F/Gas 6 until the batter is light golden in color and crisp. (Any large amounts of hot oil in a kitchen, especially in woks which are not always that sturdy, scare me, please be careful and do not leave the pan unattended.) Turn the vegetables at intervals to ensure that both sides are cooked equally and then fish them out with a slotted spoon, shaking off any excess oil. Place them on kitchen paper towels and eat as soon as possible. The reason that I keep going on about eating them so quickly is because as your hot cooked vegetables cool down inside the batter they begin to steam, making them less crisp as time goes on. Good tempura should be crispy and is one of those things that should be made and cooked quickly and eaten straight away.
• Pour the rice wine vinegar into a small bowl. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Taste for sweetness. Add cilantro, chile, and garlic and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and allow to sit for 10 minutes to 1 hour, for flavors to combine.;

AIR-FRYER TEMPURA VEGGIES

Steps:

• Mix together flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Whisk together eggs and water in another shallow dish. Stir together panko and oil in a third shallow dish. Add desired seasoning to either panko and/or flour mixture.
• Sprinkle vegetables with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Dip in flour mixture, then in egg mixture, and finally in panko mixture to coat.
• Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
• Arrange half of the vegetables in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with additional salt, if desired. Transfer vegetables to oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining vegetables.

BAKED VEGETABLE TEMPURA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Grease a large baking sheet.
• Combine panko and salt together in a shallow bowl. Whisk eggs in a separate small bowl. Combine broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, winter squash, onion, and green beans together in a large bowl; add flour and toss to coat evenly.
• Shake excess flour from each vegetable piece, dip into beaten egg and press into panko mixture. Gently toss between your hands so any panko crumbs that haven't stuck can fall away. Place vegetables onto prepared baking sheet; do not stack.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, turning occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir soy sauce, water, rice vinegar, and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat until hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add green onion. Serve sauce alongside vegetables.

TEMPURA MUSHROOM STUFFED ZUCCHINI BLOSSOMS

Steps:

• In a hot saute pan coated with oil, add the shallots and mushrooms and stir. Season and cook soft, about 5 minutes. Drain the mix in a strainer, place on plate and put in the refrigerator. When the mix is cold, squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Check for seasoning and transfer to a food processor and add thyme, egg, butter and truffle oil. Pulse a few times to break the mushrooms and butter into small pieces-do not puree! Transfer to a bowl and fold in edamame and chives. Using a pastry bag or ziploc with end cut off, fill blossoms full. Make tempura batter by whisking the rice flour with the soda water until a pancake batter consistency is achieved. Dip the blossoms in the batter and deep fry at 350 degrees until golden brown and delicious, about 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and serve immediately on a decorative platter.

VEGETABLE TEMPURA

Steps:

• Combine the dashi, soy sauce, and mirin in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat. As soon as the dipping sauce comes to a boil, turn off the heat.
• Combine the yolks and water in a bowl, mixing until they're incorporated, then add the ice cubes (the "wet" part of the batter). In another bowl or container, add the flour (the "dry" part of the batter).
• When you're almost ready to cook the tempura, reheat dipping sauce over low heat. Grate the daikon on the coarsest side of a box grater. Squeeze out excess liquid and set aside. Grate the ginger finely and set aside. Keep the sauce warm while you prepare a tempura cooking station.
• To prepare a tempura cooking station, beside your burner, arrange the vegetables, a plate with the ½ cup of cake flour, and the wet and dry parts of the batter. Also, ready a tray lined with paper towels or newspaper to absorb the excess oil from the cooked vegetables, and the tools you'll need: chopsticks, a metal strainer, and a candy thermometer, if you have one. Place a cooking vessel on the burner; use one with a uniform size to heat oil evenly, like a large cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven (don't use a wok). Add the vegetable oil and sesame oil.
• Heat the oil to 360°F over high heat. When the oil has reached 360°F, prepare to cook the vegetables in batches. Be careful not to overfill the skillet, which will lower the cooking temperature; use, at most, half of the surface area of the oil to cook. While the tempura is cooking, check the oil temperature with a candy thermometer. Regulate the heat to maintain a constant 360°F oil temperature. If the oil is too hot, the tempura will burn; if too low, the tempura will come out soggy and greasy.
• When you're ready to cook the tempura, quickly add the flour (the "dry") to the liquid (the "wet"), in one shot. Hold 4 chopsticks together, the tips pointed down, like you're grabbing a bottle. Stab at the batter with the chopsticks, mashing down again and again to combine the dry and wet parts. Do not stir; you barely want to mix the batter. Mix for about 30 seconds, or until the batter becomes loose and liquidy, with the consistency of heavy cream. It should be lumpy, with visible gobs of dry flour floating in the liquid, and with unmixed flour sticking to the sides of the bowl. Remember, if you overmix the batter, you'll ruin it.
• Lightly dredge the vegetables in the reserved cake flour, then dip into the batter. Immediately lay the vegetables in the hot oil. Working in batches, deep-fry the harder vegetables like sweet potato, carrot, or lotus root first, for about 3 minutes, until the vegetables turn golden brown. Transfer the vegetables to the prepared tray to drain excess oil. Repeat with the other vegetables. Cook softer vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, and pumpkin for about 2 minutes. For shiso leaves, dredge only one side of the leaf with flour, and cook for about 1 minute.
• Serve the vegetable tempura with the grated daikon and ginger on the side of the warmed dipping sauce. When you're ready to eat, add the daikon and ginger to the dipping sauce and dip the tempura into it.