What is Eggplant Tempura?
Eggplant tempura is a fried Japanese food item. The eggplant is dipped in tempura batter and deep fried. The result is a light and crunchy outer crust with a pale golden-cream color. Tempura is not a heavy fried item and the batter shell lightly clings to the eggplant which has a mild taste and creamy texture.
What does Eggplant Tempura Taste Like?
...Sweet is one of the five main tastes. It has smooth and round notes in its flavor profile. Sweet is a naturally occurring flavor in many foods, including fruits, berries, winter squashes, sugarcane, and honey. The sweet taste in these foods is due to a higher sugar content. Sweetness is characteristic of desserts and is used as an accent in savory foods.
...Umami is one of five main tastes. It is savory with a depth of flavor. Umami is a taste in many foods, including meat, seafood, beans, and nuts. It is both naturally occurring and created through the specific use of ingredients to create a satisfying taste. Umami is characteristic of proteins and savory dishes.
Ingredients
...The eggplant is a deep purple vegetable. Some varieties are lavender, or speckled with white and purple, others are a creamy white. The common variety is large and oblong with an extra round bottom. Some are globe shaped, while others are long, or miniature. The skin is thin and the inside is a cream colored and spongy flesh with tiny dark seeds. When cooked, eggplant takes on a light brown or tan color. When well cooked, it is soft and has a creaminess to its texture. The flavor is mild, acidic and nutty. It pairs well in many savory dishes across the world.
...All purpose flour comes from wheat and though wheat is cultivated all around the world today, it was first cultivated in Turkey 10,000 years ago. All purpose flour is white in color and has a soft texture. This incredibly versatile flour is used in everything from breads, cakes, pastries, crackers, pasta, sauces and much more because of its pleasing and mild flavor that is slightly nutty and buttery. The gluten protein is what helps hold together breads and other products, part of what makes all purpose wheat flour so popular.
...Panko breadcrumbs are made from a crustless white bread, cooked using an electric current rather than an oven. The bread is then ground into slivers, rather than round crumbs. Panko has an airy and crisp texture, and is less oily than regular breadcrumbs. When deep fried, panko absorbs less oil than batters or other breadcrumbs. Panko is cream colored and has a flavor that is very mild and bland. It is used to add a crunchy coat to meet, deep fried vegetables and is popular in and on sushi.
...Vegetable oil is obtained by extracting oil from seeds. Types of vegetable oil include canola, sunflower, corn, and safflower. Light and with a neutral taste, vegetable oils are used to fry foods, or can be used to lightly coat meats and vegetables before roasting. Vegetable oils are also used as ingredients in salad dressings and sauces.