We were deep-frying some squash blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and boquerones one day and I realized I had some wonderful sage leaves in the fridge from a recent herbs/greens delivery. I had seen fried sage leaves in fancy cooking shows/cookbooks on several occasions so I decided to give it a go… Simply wash and dry your sage leaves, dip in your light batter and fry for a few seconds.
They were good, with that crispy coating and a subtle not overpowering hit of sage. Not sure I would go out of my way to make a batch just by itself, but if frying other items and there’s both the batter and sage nearby, it’s an easy way to add variety and a bit of added oomph to your platter…
12 Responses
Oh, that looks so good! What’s your recipe for the light batter, MM?
Wow your batter looks light and crisp!
Yes, I second Ms. Natie’s request. Batter recipe please, MM.:) Thanks!
Enya and Natie, for this batch of battered veggies, I think I just used flour, salt and some cold pellegrino (leftover) or you can use bubbly soda water. No egg.
I do this on upo, cilantro, Talbos ng Sili, young okra.
Natie…the object of the game for light tempura batter is to prevent the formation of gluten as much as possible. Therefore, some people use cake flour which has low gluten content. The addition of cornstarch together with all purpose flour is to lower the gluten content.
Seltzer or club soda and vodka together as explained in Cooks illustrated prevent the proteins in the flour from binding. Using vodka alone is not cost effective. Even in making pie crust, the addition of vodka contributes to the flakiness of the pie crust for reason above.
Kaya in MM’s batter, it produced a light tempura batter.
MM…while we are on the topic of Japanese food…is there a supplier there where you can get soy wrapper? If you can, do try it when you make cones instead of nori. I am fortunate that I found a supplier here locally on my side of the globe. It comes in different colors but I prefer the light green one.
Thank you! Moms don’t have to force vegetables on kids now.. Thank you, bettyQ
I have to share this with Brother, who just had fried kangkong for the first time- in Bangkok.
bettyq, the soy wrapper you”re referring to is not tau-pe, the kind used to wrap quekiam? i’ve never seen green soy wrappers.
Ms BettyQ, soy wrapper, ummm di ko pa naririnig yon. Does it taste like Nori? Gusto kasi ng apo ko ng lasa ng nori.
We have a recommended Japsnese store nearby, puntahan ko nga minsan.
Millet, Ebba…no, it isn’t the tau-pe nor is it the bean curd skin marinated in mirin, soy and dashi. It looks like a crepe wrapper we use for fresh lumpia.
it comes in 3 colors…colored with paprika, spinach and turmeric.
For those looking for it over here…Fujiya should have it. BUT if anyone is interested in making their own temaki or cones using them at the wholesale price, we can split a case. There are 24 packs to a case. I will ask my connections to get it for me!
So, EbbA..go look for it in your Japanese grocery store. Google it first to familiarize yourself or better yet, bring your phone and show the tindera a picture of it. I find that a picture does a better job of trying to describe what I am looking for!
Thanks Ms BettyQ.
Thank you much, MM! Thank you din Ms. Betty Q!:)