Appetizers

Edamame (Soybeans)
A classic standard, impossible to mess up
Ingredients:

• 1 bundle Fresh Edamame (soybeans) or 1 pkg Frozen Edamame in the pod
• Water
• Salt

Instructions:

1. Remove the pods from branches, but do not remove the beans from the pods.
2. Place the pods in a pot with water to cover and add salt. Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Boil for 25 minutes.
3. Drain and salt well. Serve hot or cold with an extra dish for shells.

Yasai Sembei (Vegetable Chips)
You have to slice the vegetables REALLY thin to get them crispy and frying will take much longer than you think.
Ingredients:

• 2 small stalks Lotus Root, thinly sliced and rinsed well
• 1 Sweet Potato, thinly sliced and rinsed well
• 1/4 Kabucha (Japanese Pumpkin), seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 Carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
• Oil for deep-frying
• Salt for deliciousness

Instructions:

1. In a deep frying pan, heat oil to 350F degrees and deep fry each vegetable until crispy. Drain on a rack or on top of paper towels. Sprinkle each vegetable while hot with salt.
2. Can be made in advance and stored in a container.
3. Serve with a dipping sauce: 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tbsp wasabi, dash of dill.

Serves 10

Tempura
After investigating several options, we went with a boxed mix for the batter, and it worked PERFECTLY! Couldn't have asked for better results.
Ingredients:

• 8 Japanese Green Peppers, slit to prevent bursting
• 8 spears of Asparagus, cut in half
• 1 Onion sliced into rings, keeping the rings together with toothpicks
• 1 Sweet potato, sliced
• 8 Shitake Mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 box Tempura Mix, prepared
• Oil for deep-frying
• 1 1/2 cups Dashi
• 3 tbsp Shoyu (soy auce)
• 3 tbsp Mirin

Instructions:

1. When all of the veggies are prepared, heat oil in a frying pan to 350F degrees.
2. Prepare the batter, it should be slightly lumpy
3. Dip each slice of vegetable in the batter one by one, just before it goes into the frying pan. Drop into the hot oil, cooking only a couple ingredients at a time, do not layer!
4. Fry until the surface is golden brown and crispy. Remove from the frying pan and drain off the oil.
5. Combine the dashi, shoyu and mirin. Bring to a boil then pour into individual serving bowls. Serve the tempura with the dipping sauce while hot.

Serves 4