National Tempura Day

January 7th was National Tempura Day. And so of course we had Tempura for dinner on Friday night.
First, let me say it was fantastic! Second, let me say it made a mess in my kitchen! And third, let me say I had to doctor the recipes quite a bit!
I will be making this again, if for no other reason than to measure better and get a more accurate recipe for my blog. And well, because it really was quite good.

So here are the recipes and a picture...


Tempura Batter by Setsuko Yoshizuka (from about.com)

1 egg
1 cup ice water
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted (I ended up using more flour than this. But I forgot to measure how much, I actually used. So I will be making this again in order to get a more accurate recipe. But if you want to give this a try before I remake it, then just keep adding flour until you get a nice thick batter that will stick to your potatoes, or whatever it is that your making)

Beat an egg in a bowl. Add ice water to the bowl (I did not add the ice just the water). Add sifted flour in the bowl and mix lightly. Be careful not to over mix the batter.
(I doubled this batter recipe because I knew that I was going to be making a lot of food. This batter if very plain and will not add much flavor to your food, that's what they tempura dipping sauce is for, so if your not going to use the dipping sauce you may want to spice up your batter).

Tempura Potatoes by Setsuko Yoshizuka

3-4 potatoes
Tempura batter (see recipe above)
Oil for frying

Peel potatoes and slice to 1/4-inch thick (Next time I make these, I am going to slice the potatoes like steak fries instead of chunks). Soak potatoes slices in water for 15 minutes and drain well. Make tempura batter. Heat the oil to 340 degrees. Dip potatoes in the tempura batter. Deep fry them until crisp (I deep fried them for about 7 minutes). Serve with tempura dipping sauce (recipe at the bottom).
(I also used this same method for making carrots and they were wonderful. I cooked the carrots right along with the potatoes for about 7 minutes. I'm pretty sure you could use this batter on just about anything).

Tempura Shrimp by Setsuko Yoshizuka

12 large shrimp (I used a pound of medium shrimp)
Tempura batter (see first recipe)
Oil for frying

Remove heads and shells from shrimp without removing tails (I can buy my shrimp already like this). De-vein the shrimp. Make two or three incisions on the stomach side of the shrimp to straighten them. Lightly press the back of the shrimp to straighten (this is an excellent photo show that walks you through how to do this). Remove dirt from the tails of shrimp, using a knife. Dry shrimp on paper towels. Make tempura batter. Heat oil to 340 degrees. Flour shrimp before dipping in tempura batter. Dip shrimp in tempura batter. Fry the shrimp until crisp (mine took about 2 to 3 minutes).

Tempura Dipping Sauce from Cooking at a Glance (cooking.com)

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons orange juice (I used 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons dry sherry (since this is not cooked and I was serving it to my children I did not add this)
1 tablespoon green onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar (I used 2 teaspoons sugar)
1 teaspoon sesame seeds (I did not add these)
Few splashes bottled hot chili sauce (I did not add this either)

In a small mixing bowl combine soy sauce, orange juice, sherry (if using), green onion, sugar, sesame seeds, and hot chili sauce. Set aside to use for dipping tempura foods.
(I doubled this recipe and had none leftover, which worked out good because I had no leftovers from this meal at all)

Again, I will say that this was very good. We enjoyed trying this new food and Delaney has requested this for her birthday dinner.
If you do give this a try please let me know how you and your family liked it!

National Spaghetti Day

January 4th was National Spaghetti Day! I love spaghetti and meatballs but I do not like all the work of making meatballs (and I'm not very good at it either). So I usually just fry up the hamburger and throw it in the sauce, NO MEATBALLS. But I could not cheat on National Spaghetti Day. So I went looking for an EASY meatball recipe, and I found it! These meatballs were delicious and easy. Never again will my family have to settle for meat sauce instead of meatballs.

So here is the recipe and the pictures....

Italian Spaghetti an Meatballs by Etta Winter, The Taste of Home Cookbook


2 cans (28 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (12 ounces) tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water, divided
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar (this is my own addition as we like our spaghetti sauce sweet)
3 tablespoons grated onion
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided
3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
1 bay leaf
6 slices day-old bread, torn into pieces (I used the rest of the French bread that I made on Sunday. I will make sure that I have leftover homemade bread for this recipe every time)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound ground beef (I used 1 1/2 pounds)
Hot cooked spaghetti
Additional Parmesan cheese

In a Dutch oven, combine the tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 cup water, sugar, grated onion, oregano, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1-1/4 hours.
Meanwhile, soak bread in remaining water (next time I am going to soak the bread in milk instead of water). Squeeze out excess moisture. In a large bowl, combine the bread, eggs, Parmesan cheese, and remaining salt, garlic and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-1/2-inch meatballs.
Place meatballs on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until no longer pink (mine took exactly 20 minutes). Transfer to spaghetti sauce. Simmer, uncovered until heated through, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaf (I discarded the bay leaf before I added the meatballs so it would be easier to find). Serve over spaghetti with additional Parmesan if desired.


YES, that is homemade garlic bread that you see on the plate and YES I will be posting that recipe soon!