Since the Iron Chef America episode I guest judged just re-aired, I wanted to adapt one of Morimoto’s amazing recipes (he won afterall!) for this post. Morimoto’s sweet and citrusy tempura dipping sauce with a bit of creamy heat is out of this world. It’s made with lemon juice, lemon zest, cointreau, chili sauce and mayo….completely unexpected and addicting!
In case you missed the episode, click here to see some clips:
Katie Chin on Iron Chef America
His tempura recipe calls only for shrimp but I added some carrots, sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas. It’s important that your ingredients are patted dry with a paper towel before dipping them into the batter or they’ll splatter.
Using beer in the batter creates a light and fluffy texture when fried. Make sure the beer is nice and cold before adding it to the batter mixture. To keep shrimp flat while frying, make several shallow cuts on the belly of the shrimp, turn over, and flatten before battering and frying.
Tempura batter:
1 cup of flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups of cold seltzer water or beer
1 egg, beaten
Pinch salt
8 large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (leave tails on)
sliced carrots
sugar snap peas
sweet potatoes
Miso Mayo Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons white miso
1 tablespoon Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1 teaspoon Asian chili paste
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
