Ingredients:
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup corn starch or potato starch
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup vodka chilled in the freezer
- ¾ cup carbonated water chilled in the fridge
Preparation:
In a mixing bowl, add the flour and half of corn/potato starch and mix thoroughly. Set aside the other half of corn/potato starch to coat your ingredients right before dipping into the batter.
In another bowl, add the egg and mix in the cold vodka. Then add the carbonated water. If you don’t have vodka you can substitue with more carbonated water (so a full cup instead of 3/4 water 1/4 vodka).
Carefully, add the wet batter into the mixing bowl and use the chopsticks to mix the batter in swift movements. Try to lift the bowl and move the bowl in round movements while stirring with the chopsticks. Make sure to not overmix the batter or your tempura will end up chewy. You should have some lumps in your batter. The mixing process should take no longer than one minute.
In a separate bowl, add ¼ cup of starch in a shallow bowl. Cover the vegetables in a light layer of starch.
Deep fry in 325 degree oil. Root vegetables take about three minutes and other vegetables take about one to two minutes depending on their thickness. Turn the vegetables every so often so they cook properly. Remove the cooked vegetables (it should have a pale blonde color) from the oil and place them over paper towels on a cooling rack.
