Name: Batter vegetables
Ingredients: Chickpea flour — 150 g; Rice flour — 50 g; Baking powder — 1 tsp; Cumin, turmeric, chili pepper, salt; Ice-cold water; White flour — 1 cup; Ice-cold sparkling water — 100 ml (or ice-cold lager beer); Egg yolk — 1 pc; Salt; Ice; White flour — 150 g; Ice-cold water — 200 ml; Eggs — 3 pcs; Salt, dried oregano, ground black pepper, chili peperoncino; Aubergines/eggplants (cut into rounds); Onion; Broccoli sprouts; Zucchini/courgettes (cut into rounds); Artichokes (peel and trim off the tough leaves!); Asparagus; Bell-pepper (cut into stripes); Cauliflower

Method

Chickpea batter

Mix chickpea and rice flour with the spices and baking powder. Add ice-cold water to create a batter with a consistency similar to a pancake batter. Let it rest for about an hour, then stir well again.

Tempura

Beat the egg yolks with salt, then pour ice-cold sparkling water (or beer). Sift the flour into the mixture and stir well. Add ice cubes. The tempura batter should be thick yoghurt, and small lumps are not a problem.

A’la Tuscany vegetables batter

Separate the egg yolks and whisk them with a pinch of salt. Gradually add sifted flour and ice-cold water, mixing thoroughly until you achieve a smooth batter.

Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until foamy, then gently fold them into the prepared mixture. Place the batter in the fridge and let it rest until ready to use (at least 30 minutes).

It’s easy to check the consistency. The batter should coat a spoon evenly and drip off slowly. If needed, you can adjust it with more flour or water.

Vegetables

If you have a deep fryer, pour oil into it and heat it to 170°C.

Alternatively, pour vegetable oil for frying into a heavy-bottomed deep pan and heat to 170°C. (You can check the temperature with a laser thermometer, or if you don’t have one, drop a cube of bread into the oil—it should turn golden in 20 seconds.)

Dip the sliced vegetables into the batter, shake off the excess, and place them in the hot oil.

Fry until golden, then transfer the cooked vegetables to paper towels to absorb excess oil. Serve with dips of your choice. (Yes, the sauces for latkes will work perfectly here too!)