Making tempura tonight, any suggestions to make it special?

[slimline45]

I had an urge for tempura so I'm gonna whip some up tonight. I've made it once before with a basic mix but I fancy trying to 'posh' it up a bit. Any ideas?

[Kitchen Queen]

Do you have panko? Panko is like bread crumbs but made w/rice -Very light, airy and crunchy. If not get some for next time. If you have corn flakes you might try that. Just crush and mix into the tempura batter. You might also use Furikake if you have that. Furikake is a mixture of seaweed and other products depending on what you like.
Sold in a jar - Make sure it doesn't have MSG in it. Bought in Asian/Japanese markets, specialty shops and sometime the major supers depending on where you live. Good Luck

[oakjoan]

Panko is made of rice? That's the first I ever heard of that. I thought it was just Japanese-style bread crumbs/

[kobetobiko]

I have seen people adding curry powder or chile powder to the batter to give it some color and an extra "kick". Since I haven't try it myself before I would suggest separate a small bowl of batter and "test" it first before you mix anything to the whole bowl of batter.

Enjoy!

[kare_raisu]

Restaurants have been known to make flavored salts to season the tempura with.

-Matcha shio - Green tea powder mix with salt
- goma shio - black sesame with salt

Homemade tentsuyu - tempura dipping sauce is nice.

A trick I learned at a japanese restaurant, is hold the frying shrimp by the tail with cooking chopsticks and shake as you drizzle batter over from your other hands fingers dipped in the batter bowl.

[Yukari]

Try tempura of shiso leaves. Or, kakiage, julienned vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, etc.) tempura fried in small batches.

[jenniebnyc]

make sure you use a cold bowl and put ice water in your batter. the batter should be super cold. use rice flour and don't worry about lumps. you shouldn't overmix the batter.

good luck

ps -some use club soda in lieu of water to make a lighter batter, but just saw ming tsai make tempura recently and he didn't do it so you are safe with just water too.

[chef poncho]

Your tempura batter should look like you made a mistake and have a bowl of cement on your hands with all the lumps in it. Don't mix it. When you pull the products thru it will incoproate the flour into the water. For a twist, try adding some lemon wheels and sprinkle them with a little spiced sugar when they come out of the fryer.

[AmandaEd]

You can also cut the vegetables inventively. One of my fave ways to eat tempura eggplant is to cut a slice on the diagonal, then to slice it halfway lengthwise a few times so that it looks like a broom. Tempura avocado is also incredibly decadent. Enjoy!

[Adrienne]

Great suggestions above (avocado tempura, who would have thought?). Another area to up the ante is the dipping sauce -- I like to spike my tamari with a little garlic chili paste, but I'm sure you could come up with other variations. My favorite Asian dipping sauces at the moment are either tamari + garlic chili + fish sauce + sugar (just a little) or peanut sauce + sriracha.

[rexmo]

Sushi ingredients w/o rice rolled in nori and tempura'ed is something I have had at the sushi bar before. Whitefish, crab, shrimp and avocado, with the tempura roll rolled in sushi rice and nori.

Maybe some artichoke hearts or hearts of palm?

Nanami togarashi makes everything better.

[another_adam]

Yeah, togarashi definite does make veggie tempuras better (I'd sprinkle after frying, not part of the batter--though could imagine doing it either way. Also, watch out because some have MSG)

My favorite things to fry up:
* sesame leaf
* sweet potato slices (the japanese kind is best)
* sliced yamaimo ('mountain yam'-- very starchy, somewhat slimy)
* sliced fish cake (best: sprinkle with lemon juice and ao nori flakes when you pull them out)
* fiddlehead ferns, when they are in season
* more decadent: small fresh sardines with bones, head, tail removed, stuffed with shiso and umeboshi paste
* also decadent: mix natto and green onions, wrap in a small square of nori (or shiso or sesame leaf), then coat and fry the roll. filling can be jazzed up with mustard, or kimchi, or some other strong flavor
* camembert: some parsley mixed into the batter is extra nice with this (don't dip in soy-based dipping sauce! it's good eaten either with sweet sauces like jam, or with strong things like kimchi)

Re the panko question above: panko is wheat, but there's another fun possibility for extra crispy crunch might be arare, little rice balls (? pellets? lit. 'hailstones') normally thrown into ochazuke (rice soup).

[rexmo]

Couple more thoughts:

smelts
yuca (casava)

[gargantua]

Panko literally translated from the Japanese means bread crumbs (all kinds) The panko we see in stores and restaurants here is made from light airy bread and ground to have a flakey and less granular texture than "normal" bread crumbs is made from wheat bread.

No rice involved.

I want to go to another adam's house for dinner.

KEY: Use fresh canola or peanut oil and make sure the oil stays around 350.

[kare_raisu]

I used to be a big believer in canola oil but I am starting to pick up on that 'off' taste that has been reported on these boards. I love peanut oil though - while expensive.