Tempura

To make a good tempura you must use icy water and, another trick I picked up from my mother, add a little Japanese mayonnaise to the batter — this makes the consistency delightfully crisp.

Tempura batter

1	Egg
1 pinch	Salt
1 Tbsp	Japanese mayonnaise
1 cup	Water, ice cold
1 cup	Flour

Dipping sauce

1 cup	Water
75 ml	Soy sauce
75 ml	Mirin
½ Tbsp	Sugar
¼ tsp	Dashi, powder

Ingredients

1 bottle	Oil, for deep frying
8	Prawns, banana, deveined and cleaned (Main)
4	Baby carrots
1	Capsicum, cut into 8 pieces
2 stalks	Celery, each cut into 4 pieces
1	Courgette, cut into 8 diagonal slices
1 sprinkle	Flour, to dust vegetables
½	Red onions, cut into 2 pieces
½	Nori sheets, cut into quarters

Directions

1. To make dipping sauce mix water, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and dashi powder in a small saucepan and boil for 2 minutes.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer a further 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. To make tempura batter, beat the egg, salt and mayonnaise in a bowl, then add ice-cold water.
4. Add half of the flour and mix well. Add the rest of the flour and mix only a couple of times. The key is not to overmix — some flour left on top of the batter is good.
5. Heat oil in a wok or deep fryer to 180C.
6. Dust prawns, vegetables and nori with flour and dip lightly into the tempura batter, deep fry until crispy.
7. Remove tempura and place on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Tip: Prepare everything in advance, deep fry the tempura at the very end, and eat it as soon as you can!