Yasai Tempura Moriawase (野菜の天ぷら盛り合わせ)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy pot or tempura nabe
• •Cooking thermometer
• •Long cooking chopsticks or metal tongs
• •Wire rack or tempura paper
• •Oroshigane grater for daikon, or a fine box grater

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Put the konbu and dried shiitake with their soaking water in a pot and warm slowly over low heat. Pull the konbu just before the water boils, when small bubbles climb the sides. Boiling konbu makes the broth bitter and slick, and this sauce needs clean depth, not noise. Simmer the shiitake gently for 10 minutes, then strain.

2. 2

   Season the tentsuyu

   Combine 1 1/2 cups of the shiitake-konbu dashi with the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Bring it just to a simmer, then take it off the heat. The mirin needs heat to settle, but hard boiling dulls the fragrance. Taste it: the sauce should be stronger than soup because the grated daikon and fried vegetables soften it at the table.

3. 3

   Cut the vegetables

   Slice the kabocha and sweet potato about 1/4 inch thick so they cook before the coating colors too deeply. Halve the eggplants lengthwise and make shallow diagonal cuts in the flesh, which lets heat enter quickly and keeps the pieces from turning heavy. Remove shiitake stems, and dry the shiso carefully. Water on leaves makes oil spit, and oil has poor manners already.

4. 4

   Set the station

   Line a tray with a rack or fresh paper. Set flour for dusting in one shallow bowl. Sift the remaining flour with the potato starch in another bowl, but don't add water yet. Tempura rewards readiness: once the batter is mixed, you fry, not search for tongs.

5. 5

   Heat the oil

   Heat 2 inches of neutral oil in a heavy pot to 170 to 175 C, or 340 to 350 F. If you don't have a thermometer, drop in a little batter. It should sink slightly, then rise at once with small lively bubbles. Oil too cool makes a greasy coat. Oil too hot browns the batter before the vegetable is tender.

6. 6

   Mix the batter

   Pour the ice-cold water into the flour and starch and stir with chopsticks only a few times. Leave lumps. This is not cake batter, thank heaven. Overmixing develops gluten, and gluten makes tempura thick and chewy. Keep the bowl cold, and make a second small batch later if the batter warms or turns smooth.

7. 7

   Fry firm vegetables

   Dust the kabocha and sweet potato lightly with flour, tap off the excess, dip in batter, and lower them into the oil. Fry in small batches for 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until the coating is pale and crisp and a skewer slips into the vegetable with little resistance. Crowding drops the oil temperature, so give each piece space.

8. 8

   Fry tender pieces

   Dust and batter the eggplant and shiitake next. Fry the eggplant cut-side down first so the batter sets around the flesh, then turn once. The shiitake should stay juicy, not collapse. Lift each piece when the bubbles grow quieter and the coating feels light against the chopsticks.

9. 9

   Finish with shiso

   Hold each shiso leaf by the stem, dust only the underside, and drag that side through the batter. Fry batter-side down for 15 to 20 seconds. If you coat both sides, the leaf disappears inside paste. Shiso is there for fragrance and green color, so treat it like a leaf, not a plank.

10. 10

    Serve at once

    Stand the tempura briefly on the rack, then arrange it while still crisp. Set the slower vegetables at the back, the shiso in front, and keep the pieces slightly upright instead of piled. Serve with warm tentsuyu and a small mound of grated daikon, plus salt for anyone who wants the first bite plain.

Chef Tips

• •Choose firm, dry vegetables with good color. Kabocha should feel heavy, sweet potato should be unwrinkled, eggplant should have taut purple skin, and shiso should smell bright when you lift the packet.
• •Use a thermometer if you're nervous. There is no shame in a number. Tempura asks for steady oil, and a thermometer gives a home cook the same calm as experience.
• •Keep the batter ugly. A few streaks of dry flour and little lumps are signs you're doing it right. Smooth batter looks obedient and fries like a blanket.
• •Fry in the order the vegetables need: dense first, tender next, leaves last. The method, not the menu, keeps the plate crisp and the cook unruffled.
• •If you are not cooking for a meatless table, a first dashi of konbu and katsuobushi is the usual base for tentsuyu. For this plate, shiitake-konbu dashi is the shōjin way and stands honestly on its own.

Advance Preparation

• •The shiitake and konbu can soak overnight in the refrigerator. Cold soaking gives a rounder dashi and makes the cooking day calmer.
• •The tentsuyu can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently before serving, but don't boil it hard.
• •Cut the firm vegetables up to 2 hours ahead and keep them covered. Wash shiso early, then dry it completely between towels. Mix the batter only at the last moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)