We were rushing home from walking in the woods to make tempura. Bill and I met a gentlemen who was picking Japanese herbs and he asked us if we want to have some Japanese herbs called “koshi abura.” We were so excited and said YES!! It is a quite a lot of work to find and pick this herb and how nice of him to share with us!! I did not have any empty bags but we had a paper box with cookies. I shared some of the cookies with him and made room for the koshi abura. After trading the cookies for the herb we walked faster back home. We started thinking about making crispy tempura and serving it on soba noodles.

Here is the video of making easy tempura with fresh Japanese spring herbs or other greens.

＜Tempura＞

1/2 cup flour

1 tbs cornstarch

1 tbs mayonnaise

50~80 mL cold water

koshiabura (Japanese herb “Shiso” are great for tempura too) or other greens

vegetable oil for deep frying

■ In the small bowl add flour, cornstarch, mayonnaise, and cold water and mix

~Tip 1~When the batter is cold, it makes crispy tempura so add cold water and put the batter in a cold place like the refrigerator

~Tip 2~ The texture of the batter should be like a half melted Icecream

■ Add vegetable oil and drop in a drop of batter to check the temperature. When the batter starts bubbling after 2 second, it will be the sign the oil is just right temperature for tempura

~Tip 3~ To avoid splashing oil, get rid of extra moisture from vegetables

■ Turn over a few times and when you touch the surface of the tempura it should be crispy

~Tip 4~ with chopsticks, test for crispiness. It should not be like sponge.

~Enjoy your tempura! Try making it with different vegetables or herbs~

Koshiabra given by gentleman in the woods

koshiabura bitter taste match well with soba noodle

Easy Tempura

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