My Morning Chocolate

Tempura, Soba Noodles, and Hot Dashi Broth - I would serve the tempura on the side; the broth made ours soggy

My stove makes me curse and stomp and slam things around the kitchen every time I want to use the two back burners.  That’s because it slants forward, pushing all of the ingredients to the front third of my frying pans.

But I wanted to make tempura last weekend.  I planned to have hot dashi broth and soba noodles simmering in the front, so it was time for me to learn to work with my back burner.

At first I titled the pan, holding it slightly above the flame on one side, while the tempura fried.  But my heat was too high and I kept getting hit with flying specks of oil.  I also quickly got tired of standing over a hot flame.

Then I let go and spread the tempura throughout the pan, knowing that I would need to rotate the tempura pieces to fry the back pieces in the oil.  I hoped they would eventually cook, even if it would be at a slower pace.  But this didn’t work; the tempura pieces in the back never got a crispy outer crust.

But never fear, for all of you with a  slanted stove, it is possible to make tempura.  I eventually just cooked in the front half of the pan.  It took more time, but I got some nicely fried chunks of portabella mushrooms and tofu.

My slanted stove! I cooked the tempura in the front half of the pan.

Hot Soba Noodle Soup with Tempura
For this recipe, I went to The Asian Kitchen, a cookbook I have been turning to again and again recently.  I feel like two recipes from one cookbook is the maximum I should post, but this is my third recipe from The Asian Kitchen.  Oops.  I’ll stop here, but not before saying this one more time:  if you want to learn how to cook Asian food, this book rocks.

This recipe contains three parts:  the soba noodles cooked with spinach and mushrooms, hot dashi soba broth, and tempura.

Soba Noodles
I cooked the soba noodles in boiling, salted water, just like I would pasta, and then I poured the broth (recipe below) on top and added spinach and chopped mushrooms.

Hot Soba Dashi Broth
From The Asian Kitchen
This is the first time I’ve used mirin, a strong and sweet rice cooking wine.  A bottle cost about $7 at Whole Foods, but it should last a while.  You’ll usually only  need a tablespoon or two in your recipes.

4 cups basic dashi stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon  mirin

To make the Hot Soba Dashi Broth, place all ingredients into a saucepan, bring to a boil and immediately remove from the heat.  Set aside in a warm place.

Tempura
From The Asian Kitchen
For the tempura, I used portobello mushrooms and tofu, cut into big chunks.

You’ll notice I mention shrimp in the directions because that’s what the recipe uses.  But you can make tempura out of vegetables, seafood, or tofu, depending on what you like.

1 egg yolk
1 cup ice water
1 cup cornstarch

Make the tempura batter by mixing the egg yolk, ice water, and cornstarch in a bowl and stir briskly.  The Batter should be slightly lumpy.

After mixing, let the tempura batter rest for a while so the cornstarch can thicken it.

Preheat the oil in a wok or saucepan until very hot (I pan-fried my tempura, using enough oil to cover just the bottom of the pan).

The tempura dipping station: mushrooms and tofu, cornstarch, and batter

Dust each shrimp (or mushrooms and tofu, depending on what you are using) with cornstarch, shake off any excess, and then dip in the Tempura Batter…

Dip the vegetables and tofu in the cornstarch and shake off excess, then dip in the batter.

and deep-fry in very hot oil for 1-2 minutes until light golden (If you have a slanted stave, your tempura will probably need 5-7 minutes).  Drain on paper towels.

Assembling the Parts
I would ladle the soup and hot dashi broth into bowls, and serve the tempura on the side.  The broth quickly makes the tempura soggy, and of course, it’s best when it’s crispy!