Smelt and Potato Tempura

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

½ pound smelt, gutted
1 small orange sweet potato
1 small Japanese white sweet potato (purple skin)
Peanut or vegetable oil for deep frying

Tempura Batter

¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch, separated
1 large egg
¾ cup carbonated water, chilled
¼ cup vodka, chilled

Dipping Sauce

2 tbs. soy sauce
2 tbs. mirin
2 tbs. dashi base
2 tbs. water
½ tsp. sugar

Directions

Step 1

Before you begin, make sure carbonated water and vodka are well chilled. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into ¼-inch slices. Combine dipping sauce ingredients and set aside.

Step 2

If smelt is wet, pat dry with paper towels. In a wide bowl, add ¼ cup of cornstarch. Lightly dust sweet potato slices and fish in this cornstarch, which will help the batter to stick.

Step 3

Over medium heat, begin heating 2 inches of frying oil in a medium saucepan to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While oil is heating: Combine ¾ cup flour and ¼ cup cornstarch in a medium mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, lightly beat egg with cold carbonated water and cold vodka. Add egg-soda mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with chopsticks until just combined – batter will be thin and lumpy. Do not overmix.

Step 3

Fry in small batches and serve immediately as you cook: Dip a few sweet potato slices in the batter, allowing excess to drip off, and add to oil one by one to avoid sticking. Then do the same with the fish. Give the sweet potatoes an extra minute to cook through and become tender. Fry until the coating becomes crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Allow oil to come back to temperature each time you add a new batch of sweet potato and smelt. Serve with the dipping sauce.