Erynggi Mushroom And Eggplant Tempura

First time making mushroom and eggplant tempura . Not easy to make tempura.  It really needs a lot of skills and practice but I am not discouraged. I will make better ones the next time.  The moisture from the eggplant and mushroom makes it soggy fast so have to eat it fast :p  Love the crumbs ..it remained crispy all through...those that I took out from the oil.  YUmmy!  If  you have not tried tempura..you must...it is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.  Love the erynggi mushroom slices especially. Dip it in the tempura sauce and gosh...it was finger licking good :)  Practice makes perfect ! Like what Nami shared on her blog...the key for perfect tempura is the batter and the temperature of oil.  You can go read for more tips on her blog :)

Note:  Excuse the poor photography...my arm is still not completely functionable

still shaky :(

Erynggi Mushroom And Eggplant Tempura - adapted from justonecookbook Vegetable Tempura

Ingredients:-

4 Erynggi Mushrooms- cleaned and cut into 1/8 in slices 
2 eggplant- cleaned and cut into 1/8 in slices

Tempura batter - rule is egg water: flour = 1:1 ratio

1 cup (250ml)  egg water ( 1 cold egg (40g) + 210ml cold water )
1 cup (250 ml ) cold all purpose flour

Tempura Sauce

3/4  ( 200ml)  cup of dashi stock/ konbu dashi for vegetarian )
3 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of mirin
2 tsp of sugar
2" daikon  radish

Make the tempura sauce:

1.  First, make Tempura sauce. Combine dashi stock, mirin sugar, and soy sauce in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.  Then lower the heat and let it simmer ntil sugar is completely dissolved.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Now clean and wash the erynggi mushrooms and eggplant and cut into 1/8 " thick slices. Dry dry them using paper towels.

3. Heat the 1 1/2 inch of oil in a pot.  When the oil temperature is  (160C-180C ), start making the batter.

4.  Crack the cold egg into 210ml cold water . Whisk vigorously and remove foam on the surface. As you slowly pour the  egg mixture into the cold flour, mix the batter with chopsticks in a figure of 8 motion. ( mix about at the most 1 minute ) Do not over mix the batter and leave some lumps in batter. Keep the batter cold at all time.  It is best to place the bowl of batter over a basin of ice cold water.

5.  For root vegetable deep fry around 160C, for mushroom around 175-180C. Do not over crowd the pot with ingredients. Remember you only put ingredients taking up 1/2 of oil surface. Transfer tempura to a wire rack or paper towel to remove excess oil.

6.  Between batches, remember to remove the crumbs in the oil, which will burn and and turn oil darker if you don't take it out.

Serve with the tempura sauce.....or wasabi with soy sauce

YUmmy!

Have a nice day!