Banana Yoshimoto e la Tempura di patate dolci

I really like Banana Yoshimoto

I like the way she writes, but especially what she writes. His sensitivity and ability or willingness to give importance to what we call coincidences, to memories and the way they are revived and recalled in our mind as well as the unusual textures and her writing style so feminine.

She is one of the few writers that continues to intrigue me and that moves my deep and also cathartic thoughts. Her writings leverage aspects of myself that are certainly deep and often unconscious or dormant.

When rading her books, my subconscious relaxes and does fanciful dreams, completely original, that have nothing to do with the stories of Banana, and talk me about me

New thoughts, sometimes also far from the Western and Italian feelings and wrapped in dark and also hilarious scenarios at the same time that they are part of human life . In each tale, quite often some episodes take place in the kitchen, in a restaurant or in a cafeteria and even in some tipical places where to eat quick snacks traditional Japanese or Western.

Most of Banana Yoshimoto's books are now also in ebook format.

Just yesterday I was reading a short story part of "The body knows everything" where the main character, while thinking about her mother remembers tenderly the sweet potato tempura that her mother used to make when she was a little girl. Somthing she was fond of.

A few hours later I went out to buy something for dinner and I found casually sweet potatoes at the supermarket, medium sized and fresh. Was it a coicidence?

I just could not give up ...

Sweet potatoes Tempura

For the batter : 160ml cold water, 100gr. flour for tempura or a mixture of rice flour and corn starch or potato, oil for frying ( peanut oil , corn or sunflower)

For the sauce; 100ml of cold water, 3 tablespoons light soy sauce, 3 tablespoons mirin, A little grated fresh ginger (optional)
 

Wash and scrub well the sweet potatoes and cut them into slices without peeling, then put them to soak in cold water to eliminate any bitter taste.
Before frying, dry them well. The preparation of the batter is the most important part in tempura. In a bowl, briefly stir with iced sparkling water, with few ice cubes added, the special flour for tempura (if you have at home, after having sifted, or the rice and starch flour mixture.
This batter should not become sticky.

Heat oil for frying bringing it to about 160°C.
Lightly flour the slices of potatoes and then dip them quickly into the batter, just before to put them in the hot oil.
After a while, give them a pat to understand at what point of cooking they are and if the batter has already hardened remove from the pan and continue frying all other potatoes.

Frying in this way must let ingredient of a clear golden color. Arrange on a pretty plate, and apart, serve the sauce in a small bowl.

Chopsticks are a must.

I've lost the pictures, but I'll do better next time.