Re-imagined red pepper tempura with smoky garlic aioli
Alcoholic beverages
Japanese cuisine
Watching my maternal Grandmother make tempura for every special family gathering is a vivid childhood memory of mine. I can almost see her deftly mixing the ice cold batter of water, flour and egg and seamlessly dipping fish, string beans, mushrooms, onions and sweet potatoes into the batter and then into the frying oil. No matter how many times we all watched her, no one knows exactly how she did it. She was one of those cooks who never used a recipe, who almost magically created dish after dish with intuition and love alone. I am taking matters in my own hands - which include finding out just the other day that tempura is NOT actually Japanese – well, not originally at least. Portuguese and Spanish missionaries and traders introduced it to the Japanese during the sixteenth century. With that bit of information and some artistic license, here is my interpretation of red pepper tempura with a Spanish spin. (Tempura purists hang on to your hats!) Notes: Make Smoky Garlic sauce before you prepare your vegetables or make your batter – once you start frying you have to continue until you are finished. I actually made this two ways, and the photo above is from batter that was 1/2 cup chickpea flour 1/2 cup potato starch. It was good, although the buckwheat adds a nuttiness and additional crispy factor that I liked better and what I have listed below. It also adds a little darker color since the flour is darker (unfortunately I did not have my camera on hand to snap a pic of the buckwheat/chickpea version).
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