CanadaDinner
Veggie Tempura with Earthbound Farm Broccoli & Cauliflower
Active Time: 5 minutes • Total Time: 25 minutes
Yields: 6-8
Ingredients
- 1 bag of Earthbound Farm Organic Broccoli & Cauliflower
- vegetable oil for frying
- 2 ½ cups cake flour or all purpose flour
- 24 ounces cold club soda (we like Topo Chico)
- A few good pinches of Kosher salt
- ½ pound Jumbo shrimp, cleaned and deveined
- 15 ounce bag frozen sweet potato fries (we like Alexia)
Tempura is a remarkably simple and satisfying dish. And it doesn’t have to be greasy — a few tricks will help keep your tempura here light and crispy. For example, while you can make tempura with all purpose flour, using cake flour will make your batter less bread-y and lighter because it has a much lower gluten content than all purpose flour. Also, use ice-cold water in your batter — it helps the batter ward off oil absorption. And whenever you’re pan- or deep-frying, it’s important to use a high smoke point oil, such as avocado, safflower, sunflower, coconut, or peanut oil. There are others — just check your bottle to be sure your smoke point is above 350 degrees Farenheit.
Pour a high smoke-point vegetable oil (like peanut, avocado, coconut, safflower, or sunflower oil) into a large heavy pot to a depth of 2 inches. Heat over medium-high heat until deep-fry thermometer registers 375 degrees Fahrenheit, or until a little of the batter (below) sizzles nicely (but not angrily!) when dropped into the oil.
Whisk the flour and club soda until smooth and add kosher salt to taste.
Working in batches, coat the Earthbound Broccoli & Cauliflower, shrimp and sweet potato fries, then place carefully into the hot oil. Be gentle so you don’t splash hot oil! Coat only what you are going to fry immediately. Make your batches small enough so the pieces fit comfortably in your pan, without crowding. Your pieces won’t get crispy where they touch.
Fry until golden, turning if necessary. Transfer to paper towels and season with salt. Serve with your favorite tempura dip.
