• 8 prawns or shrimp
• 4 pieces conger eel
• 4 pieces white-fleshed fish
• 4 pieces squid
• 8 shitake mushrooms
• 1 green capsicum (bell pepper)
• 2 finger eggplants
• 2 small sweet potatoes
• Tempura dipping sauce:
  • 1 cup dashi
  • 1/4 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
• Tempura batter:
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 cups iced water
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• vegetable oil for deep frying
• 1/2 cup sesame oil
• all-purpose flour
• daikon (Chinese white radish), cut into julienne
• daikon orosho (finely grated Chinese white radish)
• 4 lime wedges

Dashi is soup stock that is made of dried kelp (seaweed), bonito flakes and water, however there quite a lot of instant dashi sold over the supermarket counter.

• To prepare the seafood, shell and devein the prawns, leaving the heads and tails intact.  Trim the eel and the fish into squares.  Square off the squid pieces and score them in a cross-hatch pattern with a sharp knife.
• To prepare the vegetables, cut a cross on the cap of the mushrooms and remove the stalks.  Quarter the capsicum, remove the core and the seeds and slice each quarter three times, leave them joined at the top.  Slice the eggplants lengthwise.  Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them lengthwise.
• To make the tempura dipping sauce, mix together all the ingredients.
• To make the tempura batter, beat the egg yolks into the iced water.  Put the sifted flour in a mixing bowl and pour the egg mixture over it.  Stir it very lightly and use it immediately.
• To cook the tempura, heat the vegetable oil and the sesame oil in a saucepan over a high heat.  To test the heat, drop a small piece of batter into the hot oil and if it rises to the surface in the center, the oil is ready.  Coat the seafood and the vegetables lightly with flour, dip them into the batter and gently fry, a few at a time, until a light golden color.   Remove, drain and keep warm.
• To serve, distribute tempura among four plates.  Place the julienned daikon in a corner of the plate with the daikon orasho on top.  Serve with a wedge of lime and a separate dish of the tempura dipping sauce.

Make 4 servings.

Recipe supplied by Keio Plaza Inter·Continental Hotel