Tempura

Servings: 2

Ingredients
Oil for deep frying
300g green king prawns, peeled, deveined, leaving tails intact
2 Slices of purple sweet potato
1/4 butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded, thinly sliced
2 Chikuwa fish cakes
1 red capsicum, quartered, seeded
2 Okura
2 Shiitake mushrooms
2 shiso or large spinach leaves
1 carrot, peeled, diagonally sliced
1 small eggplant, thinly sliced
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed

Batter
50 g Plain flour
75 ml Ice cold water
1 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise

Tentsuyu (dipping sauce)
1 cup of Water
1/2 tbsp Dashi powder
1/4 cup Mirin
1/4 cup Soy sauce
1/4 cup grated daikon

Instructions
Prepare the prawn and vegetables and set aside.
Place the flour and add icey cold water and mayonnaise. Combine them together briefly (don’t over-mix or it will be too gooey).
Set aside in fridge until all ingredients and oil is ready.
Fill a deep pan or deep-fryer with vegetable oil and heat until 180c.
Add each ingredient (prawn & vegetable) to the batter individually to coat them and put them into the oil.
When the prawn and vegetable is cooked, if you lift them up out of cooking oil with a pair of chopsticks you can feel tiny vibration.
When the ingredients are cooked, place them onto a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
Continue to coat and fry each ingredient until all done.

Sauce
Add the mirin to a small sauce pan and boil on high heat for about 1 minute (this will allow all the alcohol to evaporate).
Add the water, soy sauce, and dashi powder and bring to a boil.
Place the sauce in a bowl and allow it to cool down then serve with the Tempura.
Pour about 1/4 cup of Tentsuyu in a small bowl with about 1 tbsp of grated daikon to serve with Tempura.