Tempura Sussex Style

For a touch of the exotic try this famous Japanese dish, made with a touch of Sussex.  There's a vast range of ingredients which can be cooked in this style, allowing scope for experiments with lots of new taste experiences.  It's much easier than you'd think, is fun to prepare and serve, and is very tasty whether you use the traditional Japanese dipping sauce or one of the many alternatives, some of which are suggested below.
It's best to try this out to see just how far the batter and ingredients stretch, and how much you feel constitutes a suitable portion, depending whether this is the only snack or whether it will be one of several dishes.  The quantities shown below made a sizeable snack for 4 people but it was served as part of a buffet meal.
 

Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes          Cooking Time: 5 minutes (per batch)

Ingredients:
 

6 oz/170g plain white flour (shops selling Japanese ingredients sometimes sell special tempura flour but we're not sure that this would make much difference)

1 egg

10 fl oz/285ml Ropetackle - must be ice cold

1litre/1¾ pts sunflower oil (or other oil suitable for deep frying - corn, safflower, peanut - but not olive oil)

For a traditional dipping sauce:

1 sachet of dashi powder (bonito-flavoured seasoning - usually comes in boxes of 5 sachets, can be bought from larger supermarkets or stores specialising in Asian ingredients)

10 fl oz/285ml boiling water

2½ fl oz/70ml light soy sauce  (available as above)

2½ fl oz/70ml mirin (sweetened cooking sake, available as above)

If you don't want to make the traditional sauce to accompany your tempura items you can buy bottles of ready-made dipping sauce, or use sweet chilli sauce,  ketchup or any other sauce you like.

Method:

Put the Ropetackle in the fridge well before you plan to start cooking - the secret of a successful tempura batter is to use ice-cold liquid.

Cut all the seafood and/or vegetables into bite-sized chunks.  Beat the egg, and combine with the flour, then slowly add the Ropetackle and mix in - not too thoroughly, as you want the batter to be slightly lumpy.  This is what creates all the nice crunchy bits.  Cover the batter container and place in the fridge until required.  It is important to keep it as cold as possible so don't put it too close to the stove when you start cooking.

Now make up the dipping sauce: empty the sachet of dashi powder into a measuring jug and make up to 10 fl oz/285ml with boiling water, stirring well.  Add the light soy sauce and the mirin, and mix well.  Pour some of the dipping sauce into a small bowl for each guest.

Heat the oil in a wok, chip pan, or other container suitable for deep frying.  Ideally the oil should reach a temperature of 165˚C/325˚F.  You can check this by dropping in a half a teaspoon of batter - if it stays on the bottom the oil is not hot enough; if it stays on the surface sizzling the oil is too hot. The oil is just right if the batter  sinks to the bottom and  immediately  rises back to the surface sizzling.

Dip the pieces of seafood or vegetable in the batter, ensuring they are well coated.  Some items such as squid may need to be dipped in plain flour first in order for the batter to coat them properly. 

Drop them into the hot oil  - do not lean over the stove as you put the items in or you risk being spattered by the hot oil - and only deal with a few items at a time, otherwise you will lower the temperature of the oil and the batter will be soggy.   Let them cook until the batter is golden brown - this only takes a few minutes.  By working with small batches of items you will be able to establish the best cooking time.

When ingredients are ready lift them out of the oil using a metal slotted spoon and put them on to kitchen paper briefly to drain the excess oil, then put them aside to keep warm while you prepare the next batch. 

Serve a selection of the cooked items to each guest, who should dip them in the sauce container before eating.  When you have finished cooking be sure to remove the oil from the heat to prevent risk of fire.

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