Thursday, December 13, 2012

Kakiage, perfect when I don't know what to do (and I want to cook carrot leaves)




I have a lot of carrots in the garden, but because the soil is 'pottery quality' clay, they rarely grow long, and I have to start using them now before they get too knotted! I picked a few, including the tender leaves (yes you can eat carrot leaves) and a couple of thin celery sticks, plus two leeks that never managed to grow beyond spring onion size. I washed, peeled and chopped the lot and then I made a batter with some tempura flour and water. Kakiage is a kind of tempura where more vegetables are mixed together, a bit like a fritter, but lighter, and if you use tempura flour also easier (no need to whisk eggs).
Add the chopped veggies to the batter (in a proper Japanese kakiage the vegetables should be cut into strips, here they were just roughly chopped) and spoon into hot oil to fry on both sides. Sprinkle with salt and serve. Very very simple and perfect for those kids who don't eat vegetables: they will probably eat any kind of veggie if it is hidden in a delicious kakiage fritter!!

Leftover kakiage can be added to a bowl of hot noodle soup, it tastes even better!




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

11 comments:

  1. Mai assaggiate e ti assicuro che mi ispirano davvero parecchio amica mia. Un abbraccio, sei sempre splendida.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grazie Ely, se trovi la farina per tempura in qualche negozio specializzato prova! Va bene qualsiasi verdura.

    ReplyDelete
  3. che buone e che bella ricetta..io devo fare pace con i fritti :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Non friggo molto neppure io, ma ogni tanto la tempura o il gnocco fritto, o qualche frittella, se fosse per i miei li mangerebbero ogni settimana, ma per me massimo una volta al mese, per sfizio :-).

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I used to wonder if we could make pesto out of carrot tops. What do you think? I've never tried it (I didn't want to waste the nuts or cheese) but thought I might ask in case you have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will try, but they don't have much aromatic flavor, probably need to add some basil anyway...

      Delete
  7. ogni tanto una tempura si può fare, confesso di non avere non solo mai usato ma neanche penssato le foglie della carota, gnocco fritto ha il sapore di casa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anche per me il gnocco fritto ha sapore di casa!

      Delete
  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails