Puffball Tempura is a modern British recipe (based on a Japanese original) for a classic starter of meadow puffballs covered in blanched lettuce that's coated in tempura batter and deep fried to cook. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Puffball Tempura.
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This is an excellent way of cooking meadow puffballs, though it will also work for chunks of giant puffballs.
Meadow puffballs are just the right size for this dish, though you could also use common puffballs and closed-cap field mushrooms. It would also work with giant puffballs cut into 2cm cubes. As well as wild mushrooms this recipe also works well with farmed closed cap (button) mushrooms.
Ingredients:
12 meadow puffballs (or 12 common puffballs or button field mushrooms or giant puffball dice)
splash of olive oil
salt and freshly-ground black pepper
romaine lettuce leaves, blanched
For the Temputa Batter:
5 tbsp plain flavour
3 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp baking powder
200ml iced water
groundnut or vegetable oil for deep frying
Cheat's Dashi Sauce:
2 tbsp dark sherry
1 tbsp ginger, grated
4 tsp cold water
soy sauce, to taste
Method:
Wipe the mushrooms clean with a cloth then trim the stems flush with the cap, or trim nicely round.
Fill a wok with about a 7cm depth of oil and heat to 180–200C.
Sift together the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Start working in the iced water until you have a thin batter.
Toss the mushrooms with the olive oil then season with salt and black pepper. Blanch the lettuce leaves in salted water then drain.
Wrap each seasoned puffball in a blanched lettuce leaf then dip in the batter and carefully drop into the hot oil.
Using a toothpick, carefully trickle more batter over each puffball as they fry. Turn the puffballs over then drizzle more batter on the other side until the battered puffballs are golden and crisp.
Once cooked, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain any excess oil.
For the quick dashi, whist together the sherry, ginger and cold water in a bowl. Add soy sauce to taste.
Serve the fried and battered puffballs with the dipping sauce.
