Lobster and Vegetable Tempura on Rice Sticks with Apricot Sweet and Sour

It has been a little too busy for writing the blog lately. And when we are doing something new or interesting it seems the camera is in another location or it isn't possible to take pictures at that time. But here is a dish that I taught in another cooking class last night. It is a very light tempura coating on some vegetables and chunks of lobster. It is presented on fried rice sticks with apricot sweet and sour sauce served on the side.

The tempura batter is made with one egg, ice water and rice flour, whipped into a thin batter. First dust the vegetables and lobster chunks with all purpose flour, then dip them into the batter and plunge them into 350 to 375 degree hot oil (peanut is best if you're not allergic).

The rice sticks are fun to make. You drop them into the hot oil and the puff up beautifully, and make an interesting way to present the tempura. They also add extra crunch and taste delicious when they absorb some of the apricot.

The apricot sweet and sour is a recipe from Fusion Food Cookbook by Hugh Carpenter and Terri Sandison, a husband and wife team who create beautiful books-he cooks and she photographs. I had the honor of assisting Hugh in one of his classes at the Kitchen Conservatory a couple of years ago, and he presented me with an autographed copy of his book. Dried apricots, apricot nectar, rice wine vinegar, ginger and chili are cooked together and blended into a smooth sweet and sour sauce that will knock your socks off.