Taking up on my seasonal joy, with Asparagus & Shrimp Tempura.
When in Japan, tasting season was not at all difficult, as we were blessed with distinct seasons, gifts from sea & mountains.
But now in tropical Singapore, as a tradeoff to beautiful sunshine & fair weather all year around (which is amazing), I need to be more proactive in enjoying season on my table.
Enjoying them in Tempura this time, with additional lotus roots & shrimp.
Tips & How to: Asparagus & Shrimp Tempura
🍤Gotta be cold water
Tempura batter is simply: flour (light ones)＋egg ＋ “cold water (even with ice)”.
It needs to be cold, because otherwise it will be glutinous & thick- we want the light & fragile texture.
🍤Leave powders in the batter!
Be careful not to mix the batter completely- you want some powders left, so you’ll end up with dimensional texture.
🍤Shrimp
We don’t want them curled up like in emojis🍤, but straight! And there’s a way- cut stomach & bend (… sounds gruesome, but not so much😇 swipe to the 15sec video).
🍤On flavor
I like to enjoy tempura with bonito dashi sauce sometimes too, but usually I go for plain salt, to enjoy the crispy shell.
Better with either flaky salt like Maldon so you could sprinkle them on / much powdery salt, so it will stick to tempura.
🍤Batter recipe
I go for traditional recipe of:
130g plain/light flour
1 egg yolk (could be whole)
Super cold water 200ml (most time with ice floating)
But if you have Asian markets around, you would be able to find “tempura powder”- art of tech. They’re great too, highly recommended❤️
[Japanese]季節の天ぷら、春のアスパラガス編
もう、タイムラインがタケノコや山菜やホタルイカで、もう、もう、恋しくてたまりません～笑
まずは、春のアスパラガス活動を再開したいと思います。
そういえば、最近全然和食っぽいものを投稿していませんでした。
ご紹介できるほどでもないお惣菜やお味噌汁くらいしか作っておらず、反省です。
そんなこんなで、今回は、超苦手分野であるTEMPURAにトライ。
案の定、初回エビに失敗してしまい、まっすぐにならず…。
二度目は、少し良くなったのですが、やっぱり思ったようにはならず、今年の修行項目の一つにしたいと思います。
次回自分への申し送り（なんのこっちゃ失礼します）
・エビ、腹側に3か所均等に切れ目入れて、かなり思い切り（大切）、ポキポキする！＆打ち粉！
・衣：冷水！小麦粉は溶きすぎない。むしろ、次回は天ぷら粉を使ってみること
・油：こまめに天かす掬う。180度：丸まらず、不思議なお玉杓子のような感じの形状になる頃合い
💚🦐🥢🇯🇵✨💚🦐🥢🇯🇵✨💚🦐🥢🇯🇵✨
Video of the post on Instagram / 動画バージョンはインスタグラムより：
