Coconut Oil & Tempura

For our last book club we read Unbroken by Laura Hildabrand. 

It was a great read....aaaaaaand what does it have to do with food? :) 

Most of the book Louis is a Japanese POW so of course I needed to relate that to food? ha.  I decided to have a Japanese food-themed book club. Complete with mochi, seaweed, sushi, my fav- SHARK Gummies (he was stranded at sea for like 47 days...circled by sharks) and, because I lovelovelove tempura I made it!

I just really love it. 

a few days before a my big tempura premiere friend told me about coconut oil. I ended up finding it!  At Trader Joes, I went for flowers, sushi, drinks and it was there staring me in the face, how could I not buy the coconut oil. It's very healthy for you, and it has a high burn temp.

 I tried it for the tempura and it was wonderful!!

1st off- when you cook with coconut oil your house fills with the aroma of beaches and sun tan oil. NOT a greasy burger joint. 

big ++++

2nd- it left a light cocunuty taste to the tempura, which tempura doesn't have a lot of flavor like, say, fried chicken which is full of salt and seasonings. 

While both are divine fried...tempura is a little less salty. you add the salt. 

so having the third dimension of coconut oil to the fried veggies was crazy good. 

Tempura isn't something I make from scratch! *gasp*
not everything I put on this blog has to be from scratch right?

It is from a box.
and the box stuff works wonderfully. it cheap.
you can find it in the asian isle, OR by the bread crumbs/panko bread crumbs.

Just follow the directions.
I want to stress that your batter is FREEZING coold!  for the best frying. it makes it lighter and fluffier :)

Sometimes I make it and put it in the freezer if my other stuffas isn't ready....

These directions called for an ice cube to be left in the batter. Genius!

Have you ever been to a Teppanaki Japanese restaurant, or eaten tempura?

It's a blast, and delicious.
My fav is tempura veggies. but you can do shrimp and other sea food too.

Cut up squash, broccoli, zucchini, AND SWEET POTATO! (it the best, trust me) Slice the potato thin.
Dip it in your freezing batter.
Fry it in your 350 degree oil.
don't have a thermometer?

let it heat up for a minute, when it looks more watery than oily drop a drip of water in the oil. it is !!SPLATS!! its ready.

cautiously fry your veggies.
they fry fast.

because they batter was soo cold I never had to turn my heat down. BUT I have in the past. so just monitor your veggies, if they are browning too fast- turn the heat down. you want the veggies to cook through.

Fish your tempura out of the oil, place on a paper towel or cooling rack to drain oil.
Serve Immediately hot! with a little side of soy sauce.
(..but if you must-place in oven to keep warm.  microwave makes all gushy soggy. we dont want that. )

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