A brilliant way to get your family eating more veg and for using up veg that is lurking the bottom of your fridge. The tempura button mushrooms are the only way my youngest likes eating mushrooms!
Gluten-free flour seems to me to be the fluffiest and crispiest way of making tempura, but you can use plain flour too.
Ingredients
Tempura Prawns & Veg
- 500 ml Sunflower oil
- 250 g Gluten free plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 125 ml Sparkling water
- 1 pinch Ground turmeric
- 1 squeeze Lemon
- 150 g King prawns
- 1 tub Mushrooms (chestnut, button mushrooms, oyster or shiitake mushrooms )
- 1 handful Courgette/Zuccini (ribboned)
- 1 Cauliflower (several florets, chopped into slices 5mm thick)
- Salt and pepper
Honey Lemon Greens
- 150 g Green veg (mix of spring greens, kale and purple sprouting broccoli)
- 1 tsp Honey
- 1 squeeze Lemon
- 1 tsp Sesame seeds
Units
Instructions
Tempura Prawns & Veg
- To make the batter, put the flour, salt, pepper and turmeric into a mixing bowl, slowly add water and whisk to it until it becomes smooth and the consistency of pancake batter. Any lumps will sort themselves out, so don’t worry about a few of these.
- Heat up the Sunflower oil whilst preparing the veg. Heat the oil to roughly 180 degrees, but please keep an eye on it, the best way to test the heat is to drop a little bit of the batter into the oil and it will bubble and crisp up nicely if hot enough.
- Wash and pat dry the veg. Chop each cauliflower floret into 4/5 slices and each mushroom into the size of 10 pence pieces. Ribbon the courgette with a vegetable peeler or sharp knife.
- Place a tray with kitchen towel next to your oven hob. You will also need a slotted spoon for removing from the oil.
- Pour some flour into a separate bowl and dust all the ingredients before going into the batter. I like to do one prawn first to check on the consistency and crunch of the batter. Also, to check the time for cooking, add flour or water, seasoning to batter if necessary.
- Fry the prawns and vegetables in batches until a light golden brown, making sure that the prawns are cooked through. Only add a few at a time and as they come out, place onto the tray and cover with more kitchen towel.
Honey Lemon Greens
- Steam the broccoli for about 6 minutes and the other greens for about 4 minutes. Alternatively boil some salted water in a saucepan and add the broccoli first for a minute, then the greens and kale. Cook for another 2/3 minutes. And drain well.
- Add back into the used warm pan and add the honey and a squeeze of lemon. Put a good handful of sesame seeds into a hot frying pan and move them around the pan for under a minute. Keep an eye on them. Sprinkle them over all the honeyed greens when done.
Recipe Notes
Cooks' Tips:
- Before starting, turn on your fan or open a window. This will help get rid of
frying smells. - If using a heavy based saucepan instead of a deep fat fryer, place on the furthest away ring with the handle to the wall to prevent accidents.
- For a vegan option, swap tofu for the prawns and maple syrup or agave nectar for the honey.
This sounds great and I’m keen to try it. My only question is, i thought sunflower oil wasn’t as good for you with the omega 6 in it? Wouldn’t olive oil or coconut oil be better? And can I substitute it for one of them as I don’t buy it any more. Thanks
It is OK to use unrefined sunflower oil sometimes, and this is the option that does not impart a distinctive taste. It is being heated to 180 degrees which is below the heat point of 220 degrees which is when it turns into a trans-fat. You can easily use coconut oil instead (but that is quite an expensive option) and I would only use refined olive oil and not virgin or extra virgin. Hope this helps.
Yes thank you!