One of our favs!!!

Easy Tempura Mushrooms

Light and airy, as well as absolutely delicious.

We prefer using intact stem and cap oysters, as they are much easier to hold or you can have mush more fun with a full cluster…which we call the Bloomin’ Shroom.

Need I say that you can never go wrong with a tempura battered Lions Mane either… Yum

For this recipe you can purchase a tempura batter from most specialty grocery stores or create your own in a matter of minutes:

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes Servings 3

Ingredients: (Vegan / Gluten Free)

¼ pound or roughly 2 cups of your preferred mushrooms

½ cup of White Rice flour

¼ cup cold sparkling water

¼ teaspoon salt

1 pinch of baking soda

Vegetable oil (roughly 2 cups, pending the size of your pot)

You can also add your flavor spices or seasoning to add an extra little kick, such as cilantro, Cajun blend (our favorite) or Italian.

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat, to 350F or 175C degrees. If you do not have a thermometer, use can use a chopstick, or wooden tool such as a spoon. Once it bubbles, you are up to temp.

In a small bowl whisk rice flour, cold sparkling water, salt, and baking soda. At this point, you can add your favorite spices.

Dip your mushrooms, one at a time into the batter and slightly shake it off to remove excess batter. Immediately transfer to the saucepan for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown. I recommend frying no more than 3-4 mushrooms at a time, as you chance dropping the temp of your oil and preventing your shrooms from being quite as crisp.

*If the batter seems pasty add a small amount of additional water, as the batter should be thin.

Once golden brown, transfer the mushroom tempura to a plate lined with kitchen paper towel to remove excess oil. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and serve immediately.

The Dipping Sauce!

Although these shrooms are delish without sauce, we understand that a little variation can be good and there are many to choose from!

Reduced sodium soy

Spicy Soy:

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp water

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp lime juice

1/2 small chili finely chopped – yes def optional!

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, water, maple syrup, lime juice, and chopped chili if using. Taste and adjust saltiness, sweetness, and sourness to your liking.

Traditional Japanese:

1 cup water

1 tablespoon dashi granules

¼ cup mirin (Japanese sweet wine)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in dashi, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in mirin and soy sauce.

Garlicky Tahini Sauce:

1 large whole head garlic, broken apart into unpeeled cloves

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, from about 3 lemons

1 heaping cup tahini paste

Ice water, as needed

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and Kosher salt to taste

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, combine the unpeeled garlic and lemon juice. Pulse until pulpy. Pour the garlic-lemon mixture into a large bowl through a fine mesh strainer. Using the back of a spoon, press as much liquid out as possible and then discard the remaining garlic and paper solids caught by the strainer. Whisk in the tahini paste until thick. Add ice water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, and continue to whisk until smooth and thinned to your desired consistency. Whisk in the cumin and kosher salt, to taste. Leftover sauce can be refrigerated for up to a week.

No not our pic...but they never last long enough to take pics!!!