Tempura Pickles and Broccoli

                 I love the idea of fried pickles I've seen in restaurants.  The first time I ever had them, I loved them.  Then I realized how salty they were.  It all depends on the pickles you use I guess, and the batter.  I wanted to give it a whirl.  Once in a while aren't you just in the mood for some fun fried food?

                 I wanted to tempura batter our new favorite pickles. (Woodstock Farms pickles).  They are dills but aren't too salty as far as dills go.  I am sure bread and butter pickles would work well too.

                 I had some broccoli in the fridge as well, so that got battered up as well.



                Serve it up with a dipping sauce, and you've got yourself some fun appetizer restaurant food.

Ingredients for the batter

1. 2 Cups of flour
2. 2 Tbl of corn starch
3. 1 tsp baking powder
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 1 egg
6. 12 oz. cold Sprite, or 7Up, or Sierra Mist(You can use seltzer water, but the Sierra Mist gives the batter a little sweetness which works well with the vegetables/pickles)
7. Canola oil for frying

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.  Then add the egg and the soda.  The mixture will of course be all bubbly.  Whisk it all together and in a minute the bubbles will be gone and you will have a creamy batter.  It's ok if there are a couple of lumps.

Ingredients for the dipping sauce

1. 3 Tbl mayonnaise
2. 1 tsp honey
3. 1 Tbl horseradish mustard

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

You want to slightly cook the broccoli before you batter it.  I would do this with any vegetable.  The pickle is ready as is of course.  For the broccoli, I placed the florets in a bowl, added 1/2 cup of water to it.  Then I placed it in the microwave for 3 minutes.

You will need oil for deep frying.  I deep fried the food in a small deep pot so that I wouldn't use so much oil.  I worked in batches so as not to crowd the tempura.  It does puff up nicely, so you want to give them room.

Heat up the oil to 360F.

Dip the broccoli and pickles in the batter.  Let the excess drip off, and then drop them in the oil.  (note: you want to cook only broccoli or only pickles at one time).

Turn them in the pot as you see them browning.  When all sides are golden brown remove them from the pot and place on a plate covered with a paper towel.

When they are all cooked, serve them with the dipping sauce.