Vegan Dinner Party: Part 1 - vegetable tempura

I used to throw Proper Dinner Parties, way back when (I had time, a proper house, decent furniture, etc etc).  They were elaborate, multi-course affairs, beginning with cocktails and elegant nibbles at around 7, progressing through small tasters, plated starter and main course, dessert and petits fours, all accompanied by matching wines, at a relaxed pace and finishing some time after midnight. Nowadays my usual entertaining style is to throw together a huge bunch of random food, pile it all out of the kitchen in a steady stream, let people help themselves and keep the drinks flowing.  But last weekend I decided it was time to return to something a bit more traditional.  I invited a few friends over, keeping the guest list deliberately small (doing a plated main for any more than about 6 people just wouldn't be possible in my current kitchen), and as one guest was vegan and another vegetarian, I planned a(n almost) completely vegan menu.

We began with cocktails made from grapefruit zest muddled with lemon, Campari (1 measure), gin (2 measures), Cointreau (1/2 measure was all I had left), sugar syrup (1 measure) and lemon juice (another splash).  They came out a beautiful pink colour and delightfully zesty, with a palate-tantalising bitterness from the grapefruit and Campari.  Nibbles were wasabi peas and (sadly non-vegan, the only item that was) chipotle-flavoured crisps.  (What's non-vegan about chipotle crisps, you ask?  Whey powder.  Why whey?  I don't know.  Curse you, Walkers.)

To get us properly going, next up was broccoli, asparagus and courgette tempura.  I'm a sucker for anything deep-fried; I also love green vegetables.  Tempura broccoli works particularly well -- there's just something about the way the crisp batter clings to the tender but satisfyingly textured florets, plus the savoury complexity of almost-charred cruciferous vegetable, that makes it the ultimate vegetable for the purpose.  Asparagus and courgette are similarly tender but with different flavours.  Combined with a delicately sweet, gingered soy for dipping, and a glass of Prosecco, it was a simple but delicious starter.

(By the time I thought to take a picture, we'd already eaten most of it...!)

Next course was a rich tomato soup, laced with chilli, lime, black pepper and a dash of gin (no photos but recipe loosely based on The Food Lab's vegan 'creamy' tomato soup, except for, well, the chilli, lime and gin, and with a bit less olive oil).

For main course: roasted spiced cauliflower and chickpea salad on eggplant puree, served with fresh tomato salsa and pita crisps (recipes to follow), accompanied by patatas bravas and a rocket, citrus and beetroot salad (thanks again, Kenji -- I used my standard honey-mustard-lemon vinaigrette rather than the pinenut-sherry-vinegar version, but the grapefruit and beetroot combination was a winner).

[Perhaps Blogger's photo capacity has run out -- my three attempts to upload this picture have resulted, respectively, in a strange red-only version; a half-coloured, half-fuzzy version and a half-only version.  Next time, Gadget...] ETA: aha!

Dessert was chocolate raspberry cake; recipe later perhaps.

For now, here's how I made the tempura:

Batter
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups iced water

Sift all dry ingredients together.  Just before frying, add iced water; stir with chopsticks until just combined (lumps are ok).  [This made too much batter for the below amount of vegetables; I could have done another batch at least with what was left.  Half the amount did about 8 pieces broccoli, 10 pieces courgette and a dozen or so mushrooms.  Go figure...]

Vegetables
I used:
1 small head broccoli, cut into 2-inch florets (about 12 pieces)
12 stalks asparagus
1 small courgette, cut into about 1-1.5cm slices (about 12 pieces)

Dip vegetables in turn and fry in batches: broccoli will take about 4 min, asparagus and courgette 2 min each.  Drain on kitchen towel and then serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs pickled ginger juice
1 tbs chinkiang or balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbs sugar syrup