Baby Corn and Onion Wasabi Tempura

I have no story to go with how I thought of making this dish…it literally just came to me. I love Wasabi Peas (buy them regularly because they are a great snack and the added bonus is that they clear up my sinuses) and I love baby corn (if we eat out at Thai or Chinese restaurants, my kids and I fight over the pieces of baby corn in the veggie dishes), so I just decided to try the combination together.  Frying them in a tempura was a logical choice because anything fried always tastes good.  So while I was frying the baby corn, my son asked for onion rings and I fried those in the same batter; they were an even bigger hit with him!

Ingredients:

1.    Packaged Tempura batter
2.    One can of baby corn
3.    ¼ cup of wasabi peas
4.    One large sweet white onion
5.   3-4 cups of oil for frying (preferably Corn or Canola Oil)

Directions:

1.    Using a small food processor, give a rough grind to the Wasabi peas (not too finely because they add texture to the dish).
2.    Put the oil in a medium sized pan (do not fill the pan up to the top because otherwise the hot oil could sputter out and cause injury).
3.    Start heating the oil over medium heat.

4.    While the oil is heating, prepare the tempura batter by mixing the tempura with ice cold water (proportions are on the package but I used about ½ cup of tempura flour to ½ cup of water). The batter should have a paste-like consistency so that it can coat the veggies.

5.    Add the ground Wasabi peas to the tempura batter.

6.    Open the can of baby corn and pat the corn cobs dry completely with a couple of paper towels – otherwise the tempura comes out soggy.
7.    Peel and slice the onion in thin rings.
8.    Dip the baby corn cobs in the batter and gently drop them one by one into the hot oil (make sure the oil is hot and add the corn only when the oil starts to sputter a little).
9.    When they are fried golden brown, take them out of the oil and let them drain the excess oil on a dry paper towel.
10.    When all the corn pieces are fried, repeat the dipping and frying step with the onion rings.
11.    Serve the tempura while they are still hot and crunchy with sweet and sour dipping sauce on the side (readymade bottled sauce – available at all Asian Grocery stores).