The fried vegetable is an easy dish to prepare but at the same time super temping. Practically you could use any vegetable as ingredient. And serve the final work, if you are able to resist eating while cooking, as appetizer a side dish (imagine them next to a bowl of noodles), and even a main dish (it is such a great solution as a vegetarian) option! Since we are in autumn and there are so many freshly harvested vegetables, I’ve decided to make this recipe featuring autumn seasonal vegetables: pumpkin and mushrooms! Feel free to replace it with your preferred vegetables and make sure to check my recipe using Asian ingredients!
DEEP-FRIED FOOD: WHAT A GUILTY PLEASURE!
For as long as I could remember, I have kept myself away from fried food. But being a food blogger and a cook for private events, it is not always about what I want. I must open up and try also what others like.
This dish of fried vegetable is one of the challenges I push myself to do.
It is a challenge in so many ways: first of all, it challenged me to do fried dishes, which I seldom do. After practicing several times, I got better and more confident in making fried dishes (check out my Reel doing fried chicken popcorn on Instagram). And this recipe marks the result of all the hard works. Secondly, it was a challenge to stop eating while cooking them! I finally get why fried dishes are so popular! I know they are greasy and high in calories, but they are so juicy and crispy at the same time! Once I picked a piece of freshly fried mushroom and tasted it, I couldn’t just stop there! There were the second, third pieces put in my mouth. I had to remind myself to save some for the pictures on the blog!
THE FLOUR USED FOR THE BATTER
This is flour-based recipe. I am using majorly starches because I don’t want to create gluten during the preparation. But in case you don’t have the wheat starch in hand, feel free replace it with same amount of bread/cake flour.
You can turn this "frying flour" into a batter for frying meat. Add 100ml water into the flour and you will get a yoghurt textured batter perfect for making fried popcorn chicken.
FRIED AUTUMN VEGETABLES (炸时蔬)
Course: FIRST COURSE, SECOND COURSECuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Low4
persons20
minutes20
minutesThe fried vegetable is an easy dish to prepare but at the same time super temping. Since we are in autumn and there are so many freshly harvested vegetables, I’ve decided to make this recipe featuring autumn seasonal vegetables: pumpkin and mushrooms! Feel free to replace it with your preferred vegetables and make sure to check my recipe using Asian ingredients!
INGREDIENTS
- Frying flour
Wheat starch: 100g
Potato starch: 25g
Glutinous rice flour: 10g
Baking powder: 2g
Baking soda: 2g
Water: a little bit
- The vegetables
Kabocha pumpkin: 300g
Mushroom (Cyclocybe aegerita): 200g
Basil (optional)
- Other ingredients
Sunflower oil: abbondante for frying
Aromatic Sichuan pepper salt
Chili flakes (optional)
Preparation
- Clean the pumpkin and take out the seeds. Cut the pumpkin into small pieces each with 2-3mm thickness.
- Remove the end of the mushroom stem. Use a knife or a brush to gently take out the dust/ mud remaining in the stem. (I prefer not to wash the mushroom in water in order to keep most the umami. If you choose to rinse the mushrooms under water, make sure to dry them well before frying.)
- Put all the ingredients listed in the group "Frying flour", except for water, in a big and flat container.
- Add in the vegetables and mix them with the flour.
- If you find the frying flour doesn’t stay on the surface of the vegetables, dip some water onto the vegetable to help.
- Rest the vegetables for 20 minutes before frying them.
- Heat abbondante oil in a pay. Let the temperature of the oil goes up to 160-180°C.
- Optional: you could throw the basil leaves into the oil to test the temperature. When the leaves start to fry, lower the heat to medium and keep frying for 2 minutes. Then take out the leaves and continue with the vegetables.
- Put the pumpkin slices one by one into the oil and fry them for 10 minutes. Turn them over from time to time to help frying them evenly.
- After 10 minutes, take out the pumpkin. Transfer them onto a piece of kitchen paper, which will absorb the excess oil.
- Proceed with the mushroom and fry them for 5-7 minutes. Then transfer them next to the pumpkin.
- Sprinkle some aromatic Sichuan pepper salt on top. Serve it while it is hot.
Video Recipe
I like to place some extra aromatc Sichuan pepper salt next to the fried veggies and dip into it for extra flavor.
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