Warabi to ebi no kakiage / mixed tempura with bracken and shrimp

As with any ingredient in season, bracken makes great tempura. Here is a wonderful combination with shrimp.

2 kakiage + tentsuyu*: 
218 calories; 4.8 g protein; 17.4 g fat; 9.2 g carbohydrate; 8.2 g net carbs; 108 mg sodium (tentsuyu made with 50% reduced-sodium soy sauce; 184mg with regular soy sauce); 341 mg cholesterol; 1.0 g fiber
*When 1 tbsp is consumed.


<Ingredients>

(Make 8 small/6 cm kakiage)
100 g warabi bracken (prepped)
7 medium shrimp (70 g cleaned in photo)
1 tbsp katakuriko potato starch (to clean shrimp; not in photo)

For tempura batter
5 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tbsp katakuriko potato starch
1/4 egg
90 cc ice water

Oil (for deep-frying; not in photo)

4 tbsp tentsuyu dipping sauce (not in photo)
Grated daikon radish (not in photo)


<Directions>
1.

Clean shrimp with katakuriko potato starch, and rinse.

2.

Chop warabi.
Sogigiri slice shrimp at a slant into 3 pieces.

3.

Mix flour and katakuriko potato starch well.

Mix egg and water, and pour into flour mixture.

Roughly mix.

4.

Dust warabi with flour.

5.

Heat oil.
When oil is hot (fine bubbles emerge vigorously from tips of immersed bamboo chopsticks; about 185 C/365 F), start deep-frying.

6.

Take 1/8 of warabi and shrimp, mix with batter in one corner of bowl, tilt utensil to get rid of excess batter, and quietly put in oil.

Cook for 1 and a half minutes, flipping once.

Raise heat somewhat, wait for 20-30 seconds, and remove each piece from oil, leaving one end still immersed to draw back excess and then removing kakiage quickly while shaking off more oil; transfer to plate lined with paper towels.

7.

Serve hot with tentsuyu and grated daikon radish (not in photo...).

<Notes>

• Because warabi is prep-cooked and shrimp cooks fast, this kakiage is fried at high temperature.
• Make sure to use cold flour, potato starch, egg and water for the batter in order to get a light texture at the end (warm ingredients make the outcome gooey, doughy, heavy and greasy).
• Potato starch in the batter is also for a lighter result. Rice flour works too.
• Grated daikon radish helps digestion of oily food and also prevents a greasy taste from lingering in your mouth.
  
• These kakiage make a great tentojidon (photo at right).
• Nutrition figures above are based on the assumption that 60% of all batter is used and oil absorption rate of batter is 40% of goodies' weight (goodies in each piece weigh 21.3 g, and each piece contains 8.5 g oil).
• Whole recipe: 832 calories; 17.8 g protein; 69.6 g fat; 30.0 g carbohydrate; 26.0 g net carbs; 115 mg sodium; 136 mg cholesterol; 4.0 g fiber
  1 kakiage: 104 calories; 2.2 g protein; 8.7 g fat; 3.8 g carbohydrate; 3.3 g net carbs;14 mg sodium; 17 mg cholesterol; 0.5 g fiber