Tendon(てんどん)

Today felt like a good day for tendon. A really easy dish to make, albeit a bit time consuming.

Take one cup ice cold water(and one egg's worth of your replacement of choice, if desired) and mix it with one cup flour, rice or unbleached all purpose, until it's got a good batter consistency to it.

Place it in the fridge, it's important to keep it cold unless you want oily tempura, then pour about one or two inches worth of oil into a wok or pot and set to medium heat.

While the oil warms up, chop whatever veggies you want, I went with carrots, daikon, onions, baby bok choy, snow peas, and mushrooms(no need to chop the last two unless too big!).

Once the oil's gotten hot enough that if you drop a tiny bit of batter in it sinks a little then rises to the top, cover your veggies in the batter one at a time and fry them in the oil. The small pot I used today worked fine for three veggies at a time, though use your best judgement on how many fry well for you without being overwhelming.

Veggies take awhile to fully cook, though the end result is worth it. Once done, scoop some rice into a bowl, top with the tempura, sprinkle a little tempura or soy sauce on top then dig in!

For the tea with this meal, I went simple and used the sencha tea bag that came with Den's Tea's $3 Sampler(a great deal for newbies to Japanese tea and for those just new to Den's Tea). Not bad for bagged and overall a splendid meal.