Sesame Tempura

After talking on chat last night about food and our love of food I was inspired to pick up this blog where Amie and I left off :) Sorry for the sabbatical. Speech and debate, sickness, and some crazy busy activities took over our schedule.

This recipe is from the Rachael Ray show. The first time we tried it everyone loved it!

SESAME TEMPURA

Ingredients

• For the dipping sauce:
• 1 cup light Tamari
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 inch ginger root, thinly sliced or grated
• 1/4 tablespoon honey or agave
• 1/4 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• Peanut oil or other frying oil (some vegetable oils have Omega-3 and extra nutrients added to them)
• Your choice of: Shrimp, shitake mushroom caps, trimmed and blanched baby carrots, large spinach leaves, snap peas, green onions, thinly sliced sweet potatoes, thinly sliced radishes

For the batter:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 cups club soda
• 3 tablespoons regular or black sesame seeds

Preparation

In a bowl, combine ingredients for the dipping sauce and divide among 4 small ramekins.

In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat 3 inches of oil. Arrange shrimp and/or vegetables near the stove for quick dipping and frying.

Whisk the dry ingredients for the batter together then whisk in the club soda to combine. Stir in the sesame seeds. Using a slotted spoon or spider, dip shrimp and/or vegetables a few pieces at a time, into the batter then add to the hot oil and fry until golden. Remove to baking rack set over a baking sheet to drain. Allow oil to reheat before frying the next batch.

Serve tempura with dipping sauce alongside.

We especially loved the carrots, sweet potatoes, and green onions. Green onions were my personal favorite. We didn't really like the texture of the spinach.

This meal is also a great way to use up leftover produce. Whatever you have on hand dip and fry!

Till next time,

Sarah