Blessed With An Extraordinary Life

Introduction Map Journal

first  previous  archive  next  latest

13th of April 2007 - Tempura and plans

---

Mark's Daily Weight Update: 93Kg (hanging...on...grimly...)

---

I think my subconscious hates me and is trying to kill me. I woke up at half past 5 and couldn't get back to sleep. Consequently my energy for radical reorganisation was a bit less than I had hoped, but I have been pretty productive today - I reorganised all my daily lists with fixed times assigned to everything so I can't skip around, introduced new rules for internet time and sorted through all the remaining 7" records, discarding several hundred. Now I just have to list what's left. Oh, and I got back to my didgeridoo practice, yay! Still no closer to functional circular breathing, but the honking noises are slightly more melodious.

I did find time to read several issues of 2000AD Extreme Edition, admittedly. It's a collection of very early stories from the origins of the comic in the 70s, fantastically cheesy stuff on the whole. My new favourite phrase: "NO! Hope I drown before the GIANT SCORPIONS get me!" Classic.

Unbelievably I've just realised that I haven't done a single recipe this week. Shocking. So, for those of you so far unfamiliar with it's crispy delights, I bring you...tempura!

It's another dead-simple-barely-a-recipe, frankly. Tempura is Japanese for "Grab everything not a structural part of the kitchen, and fry it in batter". You will need:

• Batter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of ice water
• 2 cups of flour

• Other things (some or all of the following)
• Prawns or shrimp, best of all king or tiger prawns
• Chunks of pork, chicken or (tender) beef
• Chunks of fish
• Chunks of pretty much any dryish vegetable or savoury fruit - peppers and mushrooms are particularly good
• Dipping sauces of your preference - sweet and sour, ponzu (that's 1 part lemon juice to 3 parts soy sauce), chilli sauce, brown sauce, thousand island or just ketchup if you're desparately boring

The meat, fish and veggies should be in roughly 1" cubes.

The batter is dead easy to make - just make sure it really is ice water, on the brink of freezing. That makes sure that the batter is light, and oil doesn't soak into it. Just beat the eggs (don't have to be frothy) then whisk it all together briefly, making sure it's nice and lumpy. That's right, you want it lumpy. Bonus for all you crap whiskers! (like me)

Heat a pan or deep-fryer of oil until a spoonful of batter dropped into it sinks halfway down then comes back up. That's just the right temperature. Then just start dunking things in the batter and dropping them in! Let each lump fry until golden brown, then scoop it out and let it drain on some kitchen paper, and eat quickly with delicious sauces.

Mmmmm...easy.

Have a nice weekend, everybody.

Technorati Tags: sleep, ebay, didgeridoo, 2000ad, scorpions, tempura, frying, deepfrying, batter, crispy, food, cooking

If you've particularly enjoyed this article and think others would enjoy it too, click here to share it on these sites: