Tempura Fried Asparagus

I have been saying that I wanted to try making tempura fried vegetables since the first time I had it at a sushi place 3 years ago but my hatred of frying has kept me from doing it. I had some asparagus on it’s last leg this week and decided to just get it over with.

Tempura batter is a mixture of flour and cornstarch and then seltzer is used as the liquid. It’s a really light batter that gets super crispy and delicious. It’s great on just about anything but sweet potato and asparagus are my favorite. The sauce is a honey mustard but next time I think I’m going to make some kind of wasabi sauce. For some reason, spicy really works with the tempura batter.

I doubled the recipe and could have easily eaten more. It was kind of ridiculous how much I ate. It was really, really good.

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Tempura Fried Asparagus

from Rachael Ray

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 cups vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup seltzer at room temperature
• 1 pound asparagus

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard and honey.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until the temperature registers 375° on a deep-fry thermometer.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda. Whisk in the seltzer until smooth.
4. Add the asparagus to the batter and turn to coat. Transferring one piece at a time, add about one-quarter of the asparagus to the hot oil and cook, turning, until golden and crisp, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining asparagus, allowing the oil to return to 375° between batches. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.