Tempura Seafood And Vegetable

I remembered I still have a packet of Korean tempura powder in the fridge and it is 6 months to expiry. I know I have to use it before it expired.  I bought  it from a Korean grocery in Singapore when I visited my son and wifey last year.  Time flies and now that packet of tempura powder  has a shelf life of another 6 months...trust me to buy and buy and forget.  Okay , so I whip up the tempura batter and fried some squids and sea prawns and I even tempura the homegrown brazilian spinach besides brinjal, homegrown okra  And guess what ? the brazilian spinach tempura is the star !   It is so crispy and remained crispy till the last bite.

It is so much easier to use the ready store bought tempura powder.  Once this batch is used up, I will ask the kids in Singapore to get me another packet...maybe a Japanese tempura powder this time so that I can compare and see which is better :p 

this is the Korean brand of tempura powder

1 cup of  tempura powder to 1 cup of cold water

serve the tempura with wasabi and soy sauce

this is the star of night.....the homegrown brazilian spinach tempura

so so crispy :)

gosh... I am going make more the next time...

Tempura Seafood And Vegetable

Ingredients :

10 pieces of sea prawns - shell and devein and butterfly cut , season with

salt and pepper to taste

1 large squid - clean and cut into 1/4 inch thick rings

1 japanese brinjal - cut at a slant of 1/4 inch thick slices

2 okras - cut at a slant of 1/4 inch thick slices

a bunch of brazilian spinach - wash and pat dry with paper towel

tempura batter

1 cup of store bought tempura powder

1 cup of ice cold water

enough rice bran oil/ vegetable oil for deep frying

Method:

1.  Shell and devein and butterfly cut the sea prawns, season with salt and white pepper . Clean and cut the squids into rings of 1/4 inch . Pat dry prawns and squids. Put aside.

2.  Cut brinjal and okra at a slant of 1/4 inch thick slices.

3. Wash and pat dry the Brazilian spinach. Use the young leaves with stem attached.

4. Mix 1 cup of tempura powder with 1 cup of ice cold water and using a whisk, give a quick whisk. It is okay to have a lumpy batter.  Coat all the sea food and  cut veggies with the first coat of batter and leave on a plate for 3 mins.  Meanwhile , heat up oil in wok.  Dip a wooden chopstick into the hot oil, if there is bubble at the end of chopstick, it means the oil is ready for frying the tempura.

5. Dip all the ingredients  a second time in the tempura batter before putting them into hot oil. Working in batches, using tongs or chopsticks dip shrimp and vegetables into batter and fry, turning occasionally, until golden, about 1 min for brazilian spinach , 2 mins for seafood and other vegetables.  Transfer to paper towels to drain. Return oil to 325 F between batches and, using slotted spoon, remove any residual bits of batter from oil before adding next batch. 

Serve tempura immediately with dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

1.