The Oily Learning Centre

Experiments with Wild Tempura

By The Bimbler

At this time of year the plant kingdom is at maximum vibrance and our countryside is crying out to be explored

so after dusting off my trusty, rusty steed I pedalled off to find colourful flowers to marvel at… then eat

I’d come up with an idea to try Tempura Wild Garlic Buds and had no difficulty finding enough to practice with

I also wanted to try a couple of Cleavers tips because they’re like velcro so I figured the batter would stick well… it did

with my twig stove lit and the cooking oil heating up I prepared Tempura batter

x1 Cup Organic plain flour

x1 Tablespoon Cornflour

x2 pinches Baking powder

x1 Pinch Salt

Icy cold water (ideally from a local spring)

Mix in enough water to make a thin batter then dip your Wild Garlic Buds before allowing the surplus batter to drip off.

Carefully lower your Tempura coated treats into the bubbling oil… they’re done in about 40 seconds.

Serve with edible petals, Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce and Soya Sauce then eat immediately.

Delicious and less fatty than a plate of chips (just)

So what can you learn from my Wilderness Deep fat frying experiment…

Only use the minimum oil you need and never overfill the pan or you’ll have some explaining to do to when the fire engine comes to put out what is essentially a chip pan fire in the middle of nowhere.

Experiment with different edible plants such as stinging nettles… almost everything tastes better coated in crispy batter and smothered with dipping sauce.

Don’t forget (as I did) to take kitchen roll to soak up any excess oil unless you want to pile on all those calories you just burned on the way there.