TEMPURA TOFU WITH TAMARIND SAUCE

TEMPURA TOFU WITH TAMARIND SAUCE:  ASIA  (serves 4)

INGREDIENTS:

600 g Japanese tofu
400 g tempura flour
350 ml ice cold water
1 ltr vegetable oil
150 g bok choy, chopped bite- sized
100 g spring onions, chopped
200 g carrot cut into 1- inch strips
40 g lemon grass, finely chopped
For the tamarind sauce:
150 ml water
50 g tamarind pulp
0.5 g mint leaves
10 g garlic
10g red chilli
0.5 g sugar
Salt and pepper totaste

METHOD:

• To prepare the tamarind sauce, soak the tamarind in water for 1 hour, then squeeze and strain.Discard the solids. Grind mint, garlic chilli, salt and sugar in a mortar.
• Add it to the tamarind water and mix well together. Cut the tofu into 3 cm cubes. Keep aside and allow to dry slightly.
• Put the tempura flour in a bowl  and stir it with ice-cold water, using chopsticks or a whisk. Do not over- mix; several small lumps are normal in a tempura batter.
• In a wok, heat some vegetable oil. Dip pieces of the tofu in the batter and use a wooden spoon to turn. Coat well.
• Fry each piece until brown and drain it on a kitchen towel. Remove all the oil from the wok, add the butter, saute garlic, onion and vegetables and stir-fry for approximately 30 seconds to a minute. Avoid over- cooking. Add soy sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper.

TIPS -Tempura is deep fried vegetable or seafood, which is commonly eaten in Japan. Tempura is best served hot. Grated daikon radish is a common condiment as well as with tentsuyu (tempura dipping sauce ) or salt. Don't forget your splatter guard- for items that need to be fried, this device is placed over a frying pan to prevent hot oil from splashing out of the pan, which often happens when the oil is frying at a high temparature.