Tag: λαχανικά

organic food

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its newest Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides on Monday, which is Earth Day. And apples top its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues for the third year in a row. 
More on Shine: Another Reason to Eat Organic

Other changes from the 2012 findings: cherry tomatoes and hot peppers are newcomers this year. Blueberries and lettuce, meanwhile, dropped off the Dirty Dozen list. The environmental watchdog group uses data compiled by the USDA, based on pre-washed samples of 48 types of conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables, to produce its findings.
More on Yahoo!: Colle Farmers Market Reacts to Organic Farming Boom in Russia

“I think most Americans would be very surprised about how prevalent pesticide residue is,” EWG senior analyst Sonya Lunder told Yahoo! Shine, noting that pesticides were still seen on 67 percent of the samples, which were all either washed or peeled before being tested.

Among the top three worst offenders—apples, strawberries and grapes—nearly every sample had pesticides on it, Lunder said, with one grape alone showing traces of 15 pesticides.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Services acknowledges that scientists do not have a full understanding of the health risks associated with exposure to pesticide residues through food, soil, water, or air. Still, notes EWG, various U.S. and international government agencies have linked pesticides to a slew of health risks, including cancer, hormone disruption, brain and nervous system toxicity and irritation to the skin, eyes and lungs.

Dirty Dozen 2013:

Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines (imported)
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers

Additionally, the EWG added a “plus” category for the second year, noting two items—domestically-grown summer squash, plus kale and collards—that, though they didn’t meet Dirty Dozen standards, were commonly contaminated with exceptionally toxic pesticides. These organophosphates, dangerous to the nervous system, were phased out of agricultural use in the 1970s and ’80s, but still linger on many farm fields.

Still, there’s also good news, as the guide includes the “Clean Fifteen”—fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides, offering hopeful solutions for anyone not in the position to find or pay for more expensive organics. Many of these safest options have naturally protective coatings, such as corn, which tops that list once again this year, and papaya, which is a newcomer. Watermelon, sadly, dropped off the clean list from 2012.

“The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure,” notes the EWG report, stressing that “eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.”

Clean Fifteen 2013:

Corn
Onions
Pineapple
Avocados
Cabbage
Sweet peas (frozen, since they’re more readily available)
Papayas
Mangoes
Asparagus
Eggplant
Kiwi
Grapefruit
Cantaloupe
Sweet potatoes
Mushrooms

The consumer list, Lunder said, “shows the real difference you can make in your purchasing habits, even if you’re only buying conventional.”
Related:
The Bottom Line: Is Organic Food Really Any Healthier?
6 Tips for Finding Cheap Organic Food
Is Organic Food Healthier? New Study Fuels the Debate

Raw foodism (or rawism) is the practice of consuming uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet.
Depending on the type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including sprouted whole grains such as gaba rice), eggs, fish (such as sashimi), meat (such as carpaccio), and non-pasteurized/non-homogenized dairy products (such as raw milk, raw milk cheese, and raw milk yogurt).[1]

Early proponents include St. Louis Estes, Edmund Bordeaux Szekely, Johnny Lovewisdom, Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas (co-founders of the Hippocrates Health Institute), Arnold Ehret (author and advocate of fasting), Aris Latham (of Sunfired Foods, Inc., known as the godfather of raw food), Arshavir Ter Hovannessian[41] and Norman W. Walker (who advocated the consumption of vegetable juices).
Notable contemporary proponents include several chefs, published authors and lecturers, such as Dr. Douglas Graham, Rene Oswald, Matthew Kenney, Tonya Zavasta, Alissa Cohen, Aris Latham, Aajonus Vonderplanitz, and Elijah Joy, as well as representatives from rawfood producing companies, such as Natural Balance Food‘s founder, Jamie Combs.
Celebrity proponents include Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Jason Mraz, Ben Vereen and Carol Alt. Woody Harrelson has published books on raw food, starred in a raw food film, created a raw food website[42] and also opened O2, a raw food restaurant and bar. Model and actress Carol Alt includes raw animal products in her diet; she has written several books on her version of the raw diet and lifestyle.
Interest in the “Raw Foods Movement” continues to grow today[43] and is especially prevalent in Australia and the western United States,[44] like California.[45] In Europe, it has remained a novelty, although a few restaurants have opened in the UK,[10] Germany,[46] and other large cities.[47] Numerous all-raw cookbooks have been published.[48]
Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw is a feature-length documentary film about the raw foods diet, made by Jenna Norwood, a former public relations consultant turned independent filmmaker, health educator and raw food chef.[49] In the film, inspired by Morgan Spurlock‘s Super Size Me, Jenna ate only raw foods for thirty days, to document the effect it would have on her health.

Richard Wrangham, a primate researcher and professor of anthropology, has suggested that eating cooked food is more “natural” for the human digestive system, because he thinks that the human digestive system may have evolved to deal with cooked foods.[130][131] Wrangham thinks that cooking explains the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller digestive tract, smaller teeth and jaws and decrease in sexual dimorphism that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago.[130][131] Most other anthropologists oppose Wrangham,[132] stating that archeological evidence suggests that cooking fires began in earnest only c.250,000 years ago, when ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint appear across Europe and the Middle East. Two million years ago, the only sign of fire is burnt earth with human remains, which most other anthropologists consider to be mere coincidence rather than evidence of intentional fire.[133] The mainstream view among anthropologists is that the increases in human brain-size occurred well before the advent of cooking, due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of meat.[134][135]

Diabetes: What Can I Eat?

Diabetes Superfoods

Ever see the top 10 lists for foods everyone should eat to superpower your diet? Ever wonder which will mesh with your diabetes meal plan? Wonder no more. Your list of the top 10 diabetes superfoods has arrived.

As with all foods, you need to work the diabetes superfoods into your individualized meal plan in appropriate portions.

All of the foods in our list have a low glycemic index or GI and provide key nutrients that are lacking in the typical western diet such as:

calcium
potassium
fiber
magnesium
vitamins A (as carotenoids), C, and E.
There isn’t research that clearly points to supplementation, so always think first about getting your nutrients from foods. Below is our list of superfoods to include in your diet.

Beans
Whether you prefer kidney, pinto, navy, or black beans, you can’t find better nutrition than that provided by beans. They are very high in fiber, giving you about 1/3 of your daily requirement in just a ½ cup, and are also good sources of magnesium and potassium.

They are considered starchy vegetables, but ½ cup provides as much protein as an ounce of meat without the saturated fat. To save time you can use canned beans, but be sure to drain and rinse them to get rid of as much sodium as possible.

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables
Spinach, collards, kale – these powerhouse foods are so low in calories and carbohydrate. You can’t eat too much.

Citrus Fruit
Grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes. Pick your favorites and get part of your daily dose of soluble fiber and vitamin C.

Sweet Potatoes
A starchy vegetable packed full of vitamin A and fiber. Try in place of regular potatoes for a lower GI alternative.

Berries
Which are your favorites: blueberries, strawberries or another variety? Regardless, they are all packed with antioxidants, vitamins and fiber. Make a parfait alternating the fruit with light, non-fat yogurt for a new favorite dessert. Try our Superfood Smoothie recipe.

Tomatoes
An old standby where everyone can find a favorite. The good news is that no matter how you like your tomatoes, pureed, raw, or in a sauce, you’re eating vital nutrients like vitamin C, iron, vitamin E.

Fish High in Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Salmon is a favorite in this category. Stay away from the breaded and deep fat fried variety… they don’t count in your goal of 6-9 ounces of fish per week.

Whole Grains
It’s the germ and bran of the whole grain you’re after. It contains all the nutrients a grain product has to offer. When you purchase processed grains like bread made from enriched wheat flour, you don’t get these. A few more of the nutrients these foods offer are magnesium, chromium, omega 3 fatty acids and folate.

Pearled barley and oatmeal are a source of fiber and potassium.

Nuts
An ounce of nuts can go a long way in providing key healthy fats along with hunger management. Other benefits are a dose of magnesium and fiber.

Some nuts and seeds, such as walnuts and flax seeds, also contain omega-3 fatty acids.

Fat-free Milk and Yogurt
Everyone knows dairy can help build strong bones and teeth. In addition to calcium, many fortified dairy products are a good source of vitamin D. More research is emerging on the connection between vitamin D and good health.

Some of the above list can be tough on the budget depending on the season and where you live. Look for lower cost options such as fruit and vegetables in season or frozen or canned fish.

Foods that every budget can live with year round are beans and rolled oats or barley that you cook from scratch.

Of course, you probably don’t want to limit yourself to just these items for every meal. The American Diabetes Association’s book What Do I Eat Now? provides a step-by-step guide to eating right.

– See more at: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/making-healthy-food-choices/diabetes-superfoods.html#sthash.hFmLN7qZ.dpuf

Explore: What Can I Eat?

Continue reading “Diabetes: What Can I Eat?”

Calcium

The best way to get more calcium is from your diet. You probably already know that dairy products — such as milk, cheese, and yogurt — provide calcium. Other foods that are high in calcium include:

Spinach
Kale
Okra
Collards
Soybeans
White beans
Some fish, like sardines, salmon, perch, and rainbow trout
Foods that are calcium-fortified, such as some orange juice, oatmeal, and breakfast cereal.
Continue reading “Calcium”

the lunch lady

Every morning before the sun rises, Nguyen Thi Thanh rolls out of bed, dons a comfy do bo (Vietnamese pyjamas), hops on her motorbike and heads to Thi Nghe Market. Thanh has been frequenting the same vendors for years, so everyone knows her by name and provides her with the freshest meats, noodles, herbs and vegetables.

Thanh arrives home at 8 am and begins preparing the day’s noodle dish. All of her broths are made from scratch, and she is blessed with a certain touch that somehow allows her soup seasonings to simultaneously suit everyone’s tastes. An hour before noon, the broth is finally perfect, and a crowd of customers gathered under a shady tree near her apartment is ready to dig into a hot bowl of noodles. This well-worn routine has been a part of Thanh’s life for the past decade, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Despite recent dramatic increases in the costs of raw ingredients, Thanh refuses to raise her prices above 13,000 VND. She does not want to burden her customers, who are mostly local residents and workers. Instead, she compensates by selling additional bowls of noodles. “I used to sell 15 kilograms of noodles,” she says, “But these days I sell 20 kilograms, which yields 80 to 100 bowls.”

VICHYSSOISE

Más en http://elcocinerofiel.com/
Ingredientes:
1 cebolla, 3 puerros,
1 patata, ½ litro de leche,
50 ml de nata, 1 cucharada de mantequilla,
aceite de oliva virgen extra,
pimienta y sal.

Vichyssoise (play /ˌvɪʃiˈswɑːz/ US dict: vish·ē·swäz′) is a thick soup made of puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. It is traditionally served cold, but can also be eaten hot.

The origins of vichyssoise are a subject of debate among culinary historians; Julia Child calls it “an American invention”,[2] whereas others observe that “the origin of the soup is questionable in whether it’s genuinely French or an American creation”.[3]
Louis Diat, a chef at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City, is most often credited with its (re)invention.[4] In 1950, Diat told New Yorker magazine:

In the summer of 1917, when I had been at the Ritz seven years, I reflected upon the potato and leek soup of my childhood which my mother and grandmother used to make. I recalled how during the summer my older brother and I used to cool it off by pouring in cold milk and how delicious it was. I resolved to make something of the sort for the patrons of the Ritz.[5]

The same article explains that the soup was first titled crème vichyssoise glacée – then, after the restaurant’s menu changed from French to English in 1930, cream vichyssoise glacée. Diat named it after Vichy, a town not far from his home town of Montmarault, France.
Earlier, French chef Jules Gouffé created a recipe for a hot potato and leek soup, publishing a version in Royal Cookery (1869).[6]

omega 3’s and B12 nutrition

Published on Mar 3, 2013
Please like, share and subscribe!
http://www.michaellanfield.com
http://www.weareinterconnected.com
http://www.drgreger.org
http://www.nutritionfacts.org

Video from 2003

About Dr. Michael Greger
Michael Greger, M.D., is an American physician, author, vegan and professional speaker. He is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. He became vegan in 1990. He is currently the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International.

Dr. Michael Greger talks about why a 40 year old vegan dies of a heart attack and all about omega 3’s and B12 nutrition and why these two nutrients are so important to all vegans and everyone else.

Can vegans die from a heart attack?
Yes, it has happened to this 40 year vegan, vegetarian since birth.

Can vegans die of the same diseases that plague people on the Western standard diet of meat, dairy and eggs?
Sure! Dr. Michael Greger tells us why and how to prevent this.

We can prevent many illnesses and diseases as a vegan. As a vegan we are not full proof. In today’s society because of washing our produce, chlorinating our water supply and soil being deficient we may need to supplement certain nutrients.

Some amazing facts, documentation, stats and a whole lot of scientific information presented in this lecture. Informative. I never knew this until I saw the video. Amazing video! A must see for everyone, including vegans and vegetarians.

Mornay (bechamel )

2 1/2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups warmed milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
2 ounces grated cheese, such as Gruyere
Steamed vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower or baby carrots, for accompaniment


In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the roux is pale yellow and frothy, about 1 minute. Do not allow the roux to brown. Slowly whisk in the milk and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Allow to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. This is now called a bechamel sauce, and may be used as is to top any number of dishes.

Stir in the cheese and whisk until melted. If the sauce seems to thick, thin with a little milk.
The sauce is now called a Mornay Sauce. Pour over steamed vegetables and serve immediately. If not using right away, cool, cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several days.

organic food

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its newest Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides on Monday, which is Earth Day. And apples top its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues for the third year in a row. 
More on Shine: Another Reason to Eat Organic

Other changes from the 2012 findings: cherry tomatoes and hot peppers are newcomers this year. Blueberries and lettuce, meanwhile, dropped off the Dirty Dozen list. The environmental watchdog group uses data compiled by the USDA, based on pre-washed samples of 48 types of conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables, to produce its findings.
More on Yahoo!: Colle Farmers Market Reacts to Organic Farming Boom in Russia

“I think most Americans would be very surprised about how prevalent pesticide residue is,” EWG senior analyst Sonya Lunder told Yahoo! Shine, noting that pesticides were still seen on 67 percent of the samples, which were all either washed or peeled before being tested.

Among the top three worst offenders—apples, strawberries and grapes—nearly every sample had pesticides on it, Lunder said, with one grape alone showing traces of 15 pesticides.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Services acknowledges that scientists do not have a full understanding of the health risks associated with exposure to pesticide residues through food, soil, water, or air. Still, notes EWG, various U.S. and international government agencies have linked pesticides to a slew of health risks, including cancer, hormone disruption, brain and nervous system toxicity and irritation to the skin, eyes and lungs.

Dirty Dozen 2013:

Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines (imported)
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers

Additionally, the EWG added a “plus” category for the second year, noting two items—domestically-grown summer squash, plus kale and collards—that, though they didn’t meet Dirty Dozen standards, were commonly contaminated with exceptionally toxic pesticides. These organophosphates, dangerous to the nervous system, were phased out of agricultural use in the 1970s and ’80s, but still linger on many farm fields.

Still, there’s also good news, as the guide includes the “Clean Fifteen”—fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides, offering hopeful solutions for anyone not in the position to find or pay for more expensive organics. Many of these safest options have naturally protective coatings, such as corn, which tops that list once again this year, and papaya, which is a newcomer. Watermelon, sadly, dropped off the clean list from 2012.

“The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure,” notes the EWG report, stressing that “eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.”

Clean Fifteen 2013:

Corn
Onions
Pineapple
Avocados
Cabbage
Sweet peas (frozen, since they’re more readily available)
Papayas
Mangoes
Asparagus
Eggplant
Kiwi
Grapefruit
Cantaloupe
Sweet potatoes
Mushrooms

The consumer list, Lunder said, “shows the real difference you can make in your purchasing habits, even if you’re only buying conventional.”
Related:
The Bottom Line: Is Organic Food Really Any Healthier?
6 Tips for Finding Cheap Organic Food
Is Organic Food Healthier? New Study Fuels the Debate

Raw foodism (or rawism) is the practice of consuming uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet.
Depending on the type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including sprouted whole grains such as gaba rice), eggs, fish (such as sashimi), meat (such as carpaccio), and non-pasteurized/non-homogenized dairy products (such as raw milk, raw milk cheese, and raw milk yogurt).[1]

Early proponents include St. Louis Estes, Edmund Bordeaux Szekely, Johnny Lovewisdom, Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas (co-founders of the Hippocrates Health Institute), Arnold Ehret (author and advocate of fasting), Aris Latham (of Sunfired Foods, Inc., known as the godfather of raw food), Arshavir Ter Hovannessian[41] and Norman W. Walker (who advocated the consumption of vegetable juices).
Notable contemporary proponents include several chefs, published authors and lecturers, such as Dr. Douglas Graham, Rene Oswald, Matthew Kenney, Tonya Zavasta, Alissa Cohen, Aris Latham, Aajonus Vonderplanitz, and Elijah Joy, as well as representatives from rawfood producing companies, such as Natural Balance Food‘s founder, Jamie Combs.
Celebrity proponents include Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Jason Mraz, Ben Vereen and Carol Alt. Woody Harrelson has published books on raw food, starred in a raw food film, created a raw food website[42] and also opened O2, a raw food restaurant and bar. Model and actress Carol Alt includes raw animal products in her diet; she has written several books on her version of the raw diet and lifestyle.
Interest in the “Raw Foods Movement” continues to grow today[43] and is especially prevalent in Australia and the western United States,[44] like California.[45] In Europe, it has remained a novelty, although a few restaurants have opened in the UK,[10] Germany,[46] and other large cities.[47] Numerous all-raw cookbooks have been published.[48]
Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw is a feature-length documentary film about the raw foods diet, made by Jenna Norwood, a former public relations consultant turned independent filmmaker, health educator and raw food chef.[49] In the film, inspired by Morgan Spurlock‘s Super Size Me, Jenna ate only raw foods for thirty days, to document the effect it would have on her health.

Richard Wrangham, a primate researcher and professor of anthropology, has suggested that eating cooked food is more “natural” for the human digestive system, because he thinks that the human digestive system may have evolved to deal with cooked foods.[130][131] Wrangham thinks that cooking explains the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller digestive tract, smaller teeth and jaws and decrease in sexual dimorphism that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago.[130][131] Most other anthropologists oppose Wrangham,[132] stating that archeological evidence suggests that cooking fires began in earnest only c.250,000 years ago, when ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint appear across Europe and the Middle East. Two million years ago, the only sign of fire is burnt earth with human remains, which most other anthropologists consider to be mere coincidence rather than evidence of intentional fire.[133] The mainstream view among anthropologists is that the increases in human brain-size occurred well before the advent of cooking, due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of meat.[134][135]

Tempura

De Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre


El tempura o tenpura (てんぷら o 天羅, tenpura?) (la pronunciación japonesa actual suele ser tempúra) se refiere a la fritura rápida japonesa, en especial a los mariscos y vegetales . Cada trozo de comida debe tener el tamaño de un bocado y se fríe en el aceite muy caliente tan solo entre dos y tres minutos. En restaurantes elegantes, se utiliza aceite de sésamo o una mezcla de este aceite con otros. Antes de llevarse el trozo a la boca se sumerge en una salsa a base de soja que contiene una pequeña porción de wasabi (salsa verde japonesa a base de rábano picante). El origen de la palabra tempura es latino. Los misioneros jesuitas españoles y portugueses, particularmente activos en el ken de Nagasaki durante los siglos XVI y XVII, introdujeron la costumbre de tomar pescados y verdura en los tiempos de “vigilia”, llamados en latín – idioma que hasta mediados del siglo XX fue el usado para los oficios religiosos católicos en todo el mundo– tempora ad quadragesimæ ( = tiempos hacia la cuaresma) del año litúrgico católico. A pesar de la expulsión de los misioneros y de todos los extranjeros de Japón, persistió la costumbre y la denominación.

Sin embargo algunos chefs japoneses remontan el origen del tempura a la llegada de Marco Polo a China, según esta opinión (hoy dificilmente certificable aunque vale mencionarla) hasta entonces los alimentos fritos (no salteados) eran infrecuentes en la cocina china y nipona porque el aceite comestible era muy costoso, la preparación de frituras rápidas merced al uso de determinados alimentos y cortes facilitó el origen del conjunto de platos hoy conocido como tempura.

En efecto, tal cual se indica al inicio del presente artículo los alimentos fritos que componen un tempura lo son brevemente, a lo sumo durante tres minutos, el aceite nunca se debe quemar y los alimentos aunque sumergidos integramente en el aceite apenas obtienen un dorado superficial, una vez quitados del wok o recipiente en que se frien no deben estar aceitosos; otra característica básica es que los alimentos a “tempurar” deben ser frescos.
En cuanto a las carnes que se preparan de este modo, casi siempre son las denominadas “carnes blancas”: de aves, pescados, mariscos ó bocados de surimi (“kanikama”).
Por ejemplo: del pollo se suelen utilizar las pechugas maceradas momentos antes de su fritura en una mezcla de salsa de soja, jengibre y azúcar, luego de maceradas, las pechugas se cortan a bisel en bocados (el requisito de que los alimentos del tempura sean cortados en bocados, es decir que entren fácilemente en la boca obedece a que tradicionalmente se llevan a la boca con los palillos, no se usan otros cubiertos con los que se pueda cortar la comida mientras se está sentado a la mesa).

En el caso de crustáceos como el langostino, estos se “pelan” (se les quitan las partes duras) aunque en lo posible se les dejan las colas; los langostinos, camarones y artrópodos afines deben ser limpiados por fuera y por dentro, la limpieza interna consiste en una especie de esviceración: con un palillo (por ejemplo un mondadientes) se les extrae la “tripa” que se ubica en la espalda o dorso, luego el langostino (o animal semejante) se corta en muescas por su parte ventral, esto para evitar que se contraiga o “cierre” durante la fritura, o, si no, se secciona en un estilo llamado “mariposa” (un sencillo corte longitudinal en la “panza” del langostino y luego la apertura “en dos” de éste), luego, antes de freir, se macera durante unos minutos en una mezcla de sake y sal marina, de otro modo pueden ser previamente lévemente rebozados en una mezcla de agua muy fría, harina no leudada y huevo (en especial la yema del huevo).

En cuanto a los vegetales a “tempurizar” se utiliza practicamente cualquier vegetal comestible de dimensiones y consistencia adecuadas (por ejemplo: morrón, cebolla, rábano, berenjena, esparrago, remolacha, zanahoria, chaucha, coliflor, brecol o brócoli, batata, diversas especies de setas etc.). La cuestión es que estos vegetales también sean cortados en bocados y se les quiten las durezas (por ejemplo: fibras, cáscaras), en el caso de morrones, brocolis (o brecoles), coliflores se hacen cortes estilo “abanico”, en el caso de zanahorias se las suele cortar longitudinalmente en finos bastoncillos, los alimentos como las chauchas y los esparragos son cortados en el estilo sengueri: segmentos biselados que recuerdan a los segmentos del bambú (planta también utilizada en la preparación de tempura). Estos vegetales se pueden freir directamente o pueden se pasados previamente por harina o en la mezcla de harina, agua fría y yema. Es muy importante el modo de freir la tempura. El aceite debe de estar a 168 grados. ¿Y cómo saberlo? Antes de empezar a freir debemos esparcir un poco de masa de tempura en el aceite, si las gotas de esta bajan al fondo de la olla y suben a la superficie en 1 segundo, la temperatura es correcta. Eso es importante para que la cobertura de los ingredientes que vayamos a tempurizar sea blanca y no amarilla.

Una vez fritos los alimentos según el modo tempura, se puede “remojar” los bocados en diversas salsas, suelen ser apreciadas las salsas agridulces como la preparada con tres cucharadas de jugo de tomate, especias (en especial pimentón dulce), tres cucharadas de azúcar, una cucharada de salsa de soja. En tal tipo de salsa se remoja cada bocado inmediatamente antes de ingerirlo, no es aconsejable verter tal tipo de salsa sobre los platos con tempura ya que se produce una mezcla de sabores que quita “gracia” al sabor específico de cada ingrediente.

Los japoneses son muy cuidadosos en cuanto a la presentación de los alimentos, estos deben hacer combinaciones cromáticas atractivas con sus ingredientes (por ejemplo el rojo de los morrones, el blanco-dorado de las cebollas y el verde del brecol), también se debe tener en cuenta una tradición japonesa: evitar disponer los objetos (en este caso los alimentos en los platos) de a cuatro ya que los japoneses tradicionalistas consideran al cuatro como un número que atrae desgracias.