Tempura Chrysanthemum Flowers

Translated by Oliver Slay from Nishikawa Genbo's Dare ni demo dekiru Shojin Ryori II - ('Shojin Ryori anyone can do')

Ingredients:

• • 12x whole Chrysanthemum flowers (broken up flower heads don't look so good...) - a mix of colours looks good.

    • Dried flowers from a chinese supermarket are for making tea - they won't look as good as fresher ones.

    • Time to start growing some from seed (buy online - some supermarkets/delicatessens sell them too) - don't just buy any old chrysanthemum

  • Tempura mix - choose your amounts - mix some flour with water to make a thin batter - play with amounts...

    • Plain flour

    • Water - try cold water and try carbonated water...

    • Salt

  • Oil deep enough to submerge the heads

Method:

• 1. Heat up the oil in the pan

  2. Mix up the batter to make a batter of good consistency... not too thin and not too heavy...

  3. Thinly coat the whole chrysanthemum heads in the batter - the aim is not to cover up all the colour of the flowers...

  4. Quickly deep-fry the chrysanthemum head in the oil. Just enough to crisp the batter - not enough to wilt or damage the head.

Notes:

Edible chrysanthemum flowers come in yellow and purple varieties. They can be served by blanching the petals, as pickles or a side dish; Tempura also - a taste of the season!

Advice:

If you add some vinegar to hot water (just boiled) and dip/blanch the chrysanthemum heads in very quickly, it's a good way to bring out the most impressive chrysanthemum colours.

[Oliver: Not sure if he is suggesting that you blanch the flowers really quickly in slightly vinegared water before battering and deep frying... we'll have to try experimenting with this before I can say for sure.]