Is it just me, or is cucumber tempura a completely lame food? Your typical assorted-tempura for lunch will have prawns (delicious), yams (mm, the contrast between the crunchy outside and the firm inside), maybe a green pepper (not that exciting, but OK), and then the cukes, which are limp, damp, and flavorless under the batter. Why bother?
Contributions
Comment feed for ongoing:
From: Emily (Feb 22 2007, at 09:35)
I thought those were zucchinis.
[link]
From: Ryan Cousineau (Feb 22 2007, at 13:29)
Yeah, another vote that those are usually zucchini.
Also, eggplant and sweet potato, most often, and sometimes squash.
I don't find the zucchini/cucumbers that offensive. I usually like the prawns less (I'm a bit weird on that point, I know)
[link]
From: Adam (Feb 22 2007, at 22:46)
I stand firm in my belief that you can make almost any food taste better by deep frying it.
[link]
From: Mark (Feb 24 2007, at 00:06)
My favorite is shiso leaf tempura: 99% fried batter. Green peppers are probably a foreign adaption of shishito tempura, which has a spicy edge and is delicious. Cucumbers are not tempura-ized in Japan.
[link]
From: Janne (Feb 24 2007, at 18:53)
Eggplant tempura is a favourite of mine, though squid tempura is even better. Never seen cucumber used for it here, but I would say that if cucumber is no good then the problem is that the tempura batter is not well-made enough. The batter really should be able to stand all by itself, tastewise, so using it with a flavourless vegetable should be no problem.
[link]
From: F.Baube (Feb 28 2007, at 01:02)
Cucumbers are sposta be a counterpoint, eh? Something cooling after too much hot sauce. And if they're zucchinis, probly the same reasoning applies. So it must be some kind of Murrcan thang, to feel compelled to fry everything -- animal, mineral, AND vegetable -- as commenter Adam says. Tempura isn't *quite* the same as deep-frying, but still: why bother?
[link]