Sushi Saturday: Sapporo Shrimp and Zucchini Tempura

Following our delicious start of Miso Soup, Kevin and I wanted to venture back into our American comfort zone by deep frying meat and vegetables before going into full blown sushi mode.  For our tempura goodness, we chose zucchini cut in not one but two ways (cuz we fancy) and the ever versatile shrimp (also reserved for later use in sushi rolls).

Would a giant bottle of Sapporo elevate our frying efforts to new heights or would we have to call it a night following horrible oil splash burns (which would still totally be worth it for delicious friedness)?

Sapporo Tempura
Time: 20 minutes

Equal parts flour and Sapporo beer
Cayenne Pepper 
Salt and Pepper
Sriracha (recommended improvement)
Oil for Frying
Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Zucchini, sliced thin and long or in rounds

Make sure to save some Sapporo

1. Mix the batter by whisking together equal parts flour and Sapporo with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste. We highly recommend adding Sriracha for some garlic and extra kick.
2. Heat oil in a large pot to 370 F. Make sure there's plenty of extra room in the pot to prevent nice hot oil splash burns.
3. Coat your zucchini in the batter then fry for 3-4 minutes or until the golden brown and slightly puffed up. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate coated with paper towels to remove excess oil.
4. Repeat with the shrimp. Feel super awesome if you manage to keep your shrimp from curling, which we were unable to do.
5. Serve with dipping sauce and enjoy.

Hmm, these veggies look super delicious.

But how could we possibly make them healthier?

Much better. 

Was there really any doubt that fried shrimp and veggies would be amazing? While, this was fantastic as expected, it surpassed our hopes for the second course thanks to the incredible Sapporo batter. The only change we would've made (in case you didn't gather it by me suggesting it in the instructions and ingredients) would be to add sriracha to the batter for a little extra kick and garlic (fortunately, we were still able to apply it directly to the end product). Our decision to cut the zucchini two ways was also a brilliant way to bring some variety to the mix, and the delicate vegetables went beautifully with our light and airy beer batter. In non-veggie related news, the tempura shrimp ranked among some of the finest shrimp I've ever had (just narrowly missing out at number one behind my mom's incredible fried shrimp). The real struggle was making sure we didn't stuff ourselves on all the tempura perfection since we still had a whole lot of raw fish to deal with and thirty minutes to kill until the sushi rice was ready.

Who shot it better? Kevin and his fancy camera?

Or me and my iPhone after I cleared enough space for pictures? (Dammit, I didn't know we could use props!)

Coming up next, the thrilling finale of entirely too much sushi for two people to eat!