Asparagus tempura with ponzu dip
1 For the ponzu dip, squeeze the mandarin and lime, briefly heat the juice with mirin, dashi and soy sauce (do not boil!) and let it cool again.
- 1 Mandarins
- 1 lime
- 50 ml Death
- 100 ml Instant-Dashi
- 100 ml plain, mild soy sauce
- 800 g white and green asparagus
- Salt
- 120 ml ice-cold water
- 1 inclined No (S)
- 75 g sifted flour (Type 405)
- Oil for deep-frying
- For the ponzu dip, squeeze the mandarin and lime, briefly warm the juice with mirin, dashi and soy sauce (do not boil!) and let it cool again.
- Peel white and green asparagus with a vegetable peeler, quarter the stalks diagonally and salt them.
- Heat the frying oil in a deep fryer or a tall, narrow pot.
- Meanwhile, sift 120 ml of ice-cold water and the egg through a fine sieve into a bowl and stir until smooth. Add the flour all at once and mix loosely and irregularly with a fork – the batter should be slightly lumpy (this is what distinguishes tempura batter from a batter used for deep-frying!).
- The frying oil has reached the perfect heat when a drop of batter quickly sinks to the bottom, rises again quickly, and the oil then sizzles gently at the edges of the batter drop.
- Dry the asparagus between kitchen towels, then lightly coat it in flour, shake off the excess, and dip it in the prepared batter. Let it drain, then fry in batches for a few minutes in hot oil until crispy – ideally, the batter should barely brown!
- Drain the fried asparagus pieces briefly on kitchen paper, salt them and serve with the ponzu dip.
Peel 2 white and green asparagus spears with a vegetable peeler, quarter the spears diagonally and salt them.
3 Heat the frying oil in the deep fryer or a tall, narrow pot.
4 Meanwhile, sift 120 ml of ice-cold water and the egg through a fine sieve into a bowl and stir until smooth. Add the flour all at once and mix loosely and irregularly with a fork – the batter should be slightly lumpy (this is what distinguishes tempura batter from a batter used for deep-frying!).
5 The frying oil has reached the perfect heat when a drop of batter quickly sinks to the bottom, quickly rises again, and the oil then sizzles gently around the edges of the batter drop.
6. Dry the asparagus between kitchen towels, then lightly coat it in flour, shake off the excess, and dip it in the prepared batter. Let it drain and fry in batches for a few minutes in hot oil until crispy – ideally, the batter should barely brown!
Drain 7 fried asparagus pieces briefly on kitchen paper, salt and serve with the ponzu dip.