Vegetable tempura

In keeping with my Japanese theme I decided to make vegetable tempura to go along with my sushi. I followed a food network  recipe for the batter and went rogue on the vegetables/ fruits I used to make tempura. I’ve always thought that tempura was similar to Indian pakoras without the heavy batter on the vegetables. Looking at the history I noted that tempura was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese living in Nagasaki in the 16th century. Per my Wikipedia research - ‘The name "tempura" originates from the Latin phrase quatuor anni tempora, which refers to the Ember days, during which no meat is consumed’ 

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup 

Cornstarch - 1 tbsp 

Seltzer water - 1.5 cups 

Salt - to taste 

Vegetables: any cut into desired thickness and length 

I used : onion, carrot, sweet potato , avocado, green beans , asparagus, broccoli , mango and pomegranate

Vegetable / canola Oil 1 cup - 2 cups for deep frying 

Sauce :

Soy sauce - 3 to 4 tbsp

Brown sugar - to taste 

Apricot jelly - to taste 

Water - to dilute to desired consistency 

Instructions 

1. Mix all the ingredients of the batter together in a large mixing bowl 
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Dip the vegetables or fruit in the batter to coat them thinly and then deep fry them until golden brown. 
   
   
   
3. Tempura is ready to serve. I made a quick sauce with soy sauce , water, brown sugar and apricot jelly mixed together to use as a dipping sauce which was quite tasty 
   
   

Tip: if you have left over tempura you can heat it up in the air fryer at 350 for about a minute to two to get tempura that tastes just like when you pulled it out of fry pan ! 

Sushi- vegetable roll

I love sushi even though I’m vegetarian.  I love the various vegetable rolls and I use cream cheese instead of crab meat. I love using fresh vegetables and tempura vegetables as filling.

I got a sushi making kit which had these plastic inserts etc. to make fancy sushi but it didn’t really work very well for me. So I just decide to use my mat and roll it old school and they turned out great ! 

Sushi rice (recipe)

1 cup sushi rice 

1 cup water 

1 tbsp rice vinegar 

1 tbsp sugar 

1/2 tbsp salt 

Wash the rice really well until water is clear. 

Place water and rice in a pot and let it come to a boil.

once it comes to a boil reduce the heat to low and cover the pot and let the rice cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Take off the stove and let it cool covered for about 15 minutes 

Now add the vinegar , sugar and salt and use a fork to mix it in and coat all the rice without making the rice mushy.

Sushi rice is ready ! 

Filling 

Carrots - julienned into thin slices 

Avocado - cut into thin strips 

Cucumber ( remove seed) - cut into thin strips 

Mango - cut into thin strips 

Cream cheese ( block of Philadelphia ) cut into strips

Sushi nori packet ( seaweed) 

Wasabi

Pickled ginger 

Soy sauce 

Instructions 

1. Place a sushi mat ( bamboo mat for rolling on the counter) 
2. Place the nori on the mat 
3. Then place some rice and flatten it with hand to spread it across the nori leaving the edges clean 
4. Now place the strips of vegetables/ cream cheese ( whatever you want for filling on the rice ) in the middle 
   
5. Now roll the sushi with the mat and make sure to stop and make the roll tight. Then cut into pieces ( typically 6-8 pieces depending on how thick you want the roll )
   
   
6. Sushi is now ready to serve with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce on the side. 
7. You put a little bit of wasabi on the sushi and dip in soy sauce and eat it . Eat ginger in-between to cleanse the palate.
8. I made four types of rolls -  

• mango, cucumber , carrot , avocado and cream cheese 
• Tempura asparagus, tempura sweet potato, carrot and cream cheese 
• Avocado , tempura avocado ,cucumber, cream cheese and crushed peanuts 
• ‘California roll’- carrot , cucumber, avocado and cream cheese 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Indian miso noodle soup

My sister loves Ramen and she found this recipe on one of her favorite sites The Chutney Life and tried it out. She sent me pictures for my blog . She really loves this recipe. 

Ingredients :

Ramen noodles - 1 packet

Vegetable broth ( Swanson 1 carton 32 oz)

Garlic - 3 to 4 cloves ( minced)

Ginger - grated 1 tsp

Scallions - 1 bunch chopped ( keep the green and white parts separate. This is because the white parts take longer to cook than the green)

Shiitake mushrooms sliced - 2 packages ( here we get 3 oz packages at our grocery store ) - wash really well and chop into small pieces 

Cilantro - chopped- half a cup

Red miso - 1 tbsp ( fermented soybean paste)

Asafoetida- 1/8 tsp

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp 

Sambal olek - 1 tbsp ( Indonesian chili paste)

Soy sauce - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp 

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp or to taste 

Oil - 1to 2 tbsp

Red chili flakes ( optional)

Instructions:

1. Cook the ramen noodles per package instructions and drain them and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process and to prevent them from becoming mushy 
   
   
2. In a large deep pot heat the oil on medium heat. Once hot place the cumin seeds in there and let them sputter. Then add the scallions ( white portion), asafoetida and sauté for a few seconds 
3. Now add the chopped mushrooms, salt, turmeric powder and sauté until the mushroom are soft. Make sure they don’t stick to the pan
   
   
   
   
4. Add the minced garlic, grated ginger and sauté . Now add the vegetable broth , cilantro , soy sauce , Sambal olek, scallions ( green)  and let it simmer.
5. In a small bowl add the miso paste and a little bit of the hot broth and mix well so the paste dissolves. Once dissolved add this mixture back to the pot. 
6. Let the broth cook on medium heat for 10 minutes , stir to ensure the ingredients are mixed 
7. In a bowl add the ramen noodles and pour in the broth and garnish with chili flakes, scallions and cilantro 
8. Indian miso soup is ready to serve