Vegetarian Tempura Fried Peppers Food

VEGETABLE TEMPURA

Steps:

• Whisk light soy sauce, mirin, and dashi granules together in a bowl for the sauce; set aside.
• Whisk water and egg yolks together in a bowl until well combined. Sift in flour and whisk until just combined; batter will be a bit lumpy.
• Heat vegetable oil in a wok or a deep saucepan until very hot, but not smoking.
• Dip sweet potato, onion, bell pepper, green beans, and shiitake mushrooms one by one into the batter and transfer immediately into the hot oil. Deep-fry tempura in batches, making sure to not overcrowd the wok, until batter is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from oil and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil. Repeat until all vegetables have been used. Serve hot with dipping sauce.

TOFU AND PEPPER TEMPURA

Steps:

• Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Beat the egg and food coloring, if using, together in another bowl. Once incorporated, add the cold water. Gradually, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly to remove any lumps. Set aside.
• While the batter is resting, preheat the grape seed oil in a deep heavy skillet, over medium heat, to around 350 degrees F. Make sure, for safety, that the oil only comes 3/4 of the way up the pan.
• Alternate the vegetables and tofu on the skewers to form a colorful stick of vegetables.
• In a large shallow dish and the flour and season it with salt and pepper, to taste. Gently roll the tofu and vegetable skewers in the flour, coating it well and shaking off any excess flour. Dip the skewers into the tempura mix, and let the excess batter drip back into the bowl. Add the skewers to the hot oil, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and crispy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and serve with a simple dipping sauce of soy sauce and chopped chives, if desired. Enjoy.

VEGETABLE TEMPURA

Steps:

• Add all the flour to a bowl. With the handle of a spoon, or a chopstick, mix, and stir in the ice-cold water until the mixture is slightly thicker than buttermilk consistency. Make a point of not mixing thoroughly, as tempura is renowned for lumps of flour.
• Dip sliced vegetables (zucchini, onions, eggplants, carrots, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, string beans, broccoli, wild mushrooms, fresh herbs, and bok choy) any vegetables will work but these are the most commonly used) into the batter mixture and shake off any excess.
• Deep fry vegetables in a wok or deep fat fryer (you can use a frying pan if you do not have anything else, you just need about 7cm/3 inches of clean oil) at 200C/400F/Gas 6 until the batter is light golden in color and crisp. (Any large amounts of hot oil in a kitchen, especially in woks which are not always that sturdy, scare me, please be careful and do not leave the pan unattended.) Turn the vegetables at intervals to ensure that both sides are cooked equally and then fish them out with a slotted spoon, shaking off any excess oil. Place them on kitchen paper towels and eat as soon as possible. The reason that I keep going on about eating them so quickly is because as your hot cooked vegetables cool down inside the batter they begin to steam, making them less crisp as time goes on. Good tempura should be crispy and is one of those things that should be made and cooked quickly and eaten straight away.
• Pour the rice wine vinegar into a small bowl. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Taste for sweetness. Add cilantro, chile, and garlic and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and allow to sit for 10 minutes to 1 hour, for flavors to combine.;

STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• For the tomato sauce: Combine the whole tomatoes and liquid from the can, onion, 2 cloves of the garlic, basil, oregano, olive oil, salt and black pepper in a 2-gallon container and puree with an immersion blender until smooth.
• Heat a large saute pan over high heat until it begins to smoke. Reduce the heat to medium and add the grapeseed oil and remaining 2 cloves of garlic and quickly saute. Add the diced tomatoes and saute until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the pureed tomato sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes and remove from the heat.
• For the stuffed peppers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bring 1 gallon water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil in a 2-gallon pot. Add the pasta and stir continually for the first 2 minutes of cooking to make sure it doesn't stick, then stir occasionally until the pasta is cooked to al dente, about 9 minutes.
• Strain the pasta, spread it on a cookie sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Mix to coat and refrigerate until cold.
• Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the grapeseed oil and sausage. Cook the sausage, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up the chunks, until browned and fully cooked, about 15 minutes. Remove from the pan, spread on a cookie sheet and refrigerate until cold.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the orzo and sausage in a mixing bowl with the diced tomatoes, Parmesan and basil. Season with salt and black pepper.
• Cut the top off each bell pepper and remove the seeds and ribs from the inside. Trim the bottom of each pepper so it will sit upright on the plate.
• Stuff the peppers with the sausage mixture and top with the mozzarella. Arrange in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, return the peppers to the oven and bake until tender, 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven and allow the peppers to sit for 5 minutes.
• For the broccoli rabe: Combine 2 gallons of water and 4 tablespoons salt in a large pot and bring to a boil. Prepare an ice bath for shocking the broccoli rabe.
• Add half of the broccoli rabe to the water and cook until al dente, 3 to 4 minutes. Strain the broccoli rabe from the water and shock in the ice bath. Bring the water to back up to a boil and repeat with the rest of the broccoli rabe.
• Remove the broccoli rabe from the ice bath and pat dry with a towel.
• For plating: Reheat the tomato sauce to a simmer over medium heat.
• Heat a saute pan over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the grapeseed oil and then add the blanched broccoli rabe. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes and then season with the black pepper and 2 teaspoons of the salt.
• Pool about 4 ounces of the tomato sauce on 6 plates. Divide the broccoli rabe among the plates, putting it in the center of the plate and making the pile flat so you can place the stuffed pepper on top. Place the stuffed pepper on top of the broccoli rabe and serve immediately.

VEGETABLE TEMPURA WITH SOY & DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Make the batter (see right). Cover a baking tray with sheets of kitchen paper. Start to heat a deep-fat frying pan or large wok a third full of oil and have the frying basket, or slotted spoon to hand
• When the oil reaches 190C dip some of the prepared veg briefly into the batter, shake off any excess, then lower straight into the hot oil. Don't crowd the frying basket. Fry for about 2 mins until light golden and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper.
• Repeat with the remaining vegetables in batches, dipping into the batter just before you fry them and remember to let the oil heat back up to temperature between each batch. Keep the tempura warm in the oven, leaving the door slightly ajar so that they stay crisp. They are best served immediately on a warm plate with the sauce alongside for dipping.