天ぷら

Dear Reader,
I decided to play around with the classic tempura.  Mainly I wanted to know if certain things will taste good after having undergone the batter and heat treatment, some I know will work, some will be a fun experiment.

Here we go:

Apple, pear, onion, kabocha, shrimp, green beans, carrot, zucchini, sweet potato, broccoli, Shitake mushroom.

The Kabocha required some additional prepping

Hard in general, I gave it a quick round in a water bath in the microwave to soften it up.

 

The ingredients are reaaaady~

 Oh, the sauce. Water, Mirin, Soy Sauce, Sugar, Dashi, and Grated Dikon Raddish (not pictured)

The beautiful result 

Thoughts:

• Apple - Interesting, it was crunchy on the outside but mushy inside as if I was eating apple pie
• Pear - Not bad, but not an improvement on just plain pear
• Sweet Potato - was there any doubt?
• Zucchini - meh
• Kabocha - better than Sweet potato!
• Avacado - a last minute look in the fridge and this came to mind.  OMG!  I'm in love!  It was crunchy outside and buttery softness inside.  So DELICIOUS!
• Carrot - I enjoyed it
• Green Beans - it was good
• Broccoli - hard to fry and know when it's done without it burning
• Onion - It was like a lightly battered onion ring. Yum!
• Shitake - meh, good but not stellar
• Shrimp - Yum.  I presalted and peppered it so it was flavorful even before dipping in the sauce