Tempura Tricks

Trust us: tempura-ing is easier than it looks. All you need is one egg white, ice water, and some wheat flour (you can find it in any Asian market), and a shit ton of oil. Pick up a bunch of stuff to dip in the batter and you're all set. Here are some tips to doing it yourself:
1)Do it outdoors if possible.
Anyone who's ever lived in a typical NYC-sized studio or one bedroom knows that frying ANYTHING inside will have long-lasting consequences. Unless you want the contents of your closet to smell like french fries for two weeks, don't do it.
2)Don't use too much water.
A little goes a long way, so if there are tiny bubbles in your batter you need to add more powder. And don't mix too much; the consistency needn't be perfectly even.
3)Use a deep fryer if possible.
If not no biggie; a hot plate with a deep pan filled with oil (canola,vegetable, or sesame are acceptable options) will work fine.

4)Be adventurous.
The truth is, you can tempura just about anything: shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, even onions. Our favorites include ika (squid), kobucha (Japanese pumpkin) and nasubi(eggplant). Don't be afraid to try different veggies, or even white fish!

5)Save your leftovers.
Otherwise mottainai! They will be fine the next day if you heat them up a little bit in a toaster oven or on the the stovetop. Throw them over a big bowl of rice and pour on some tempura sauce and you've got yourself some tendon (tempura donburi).

Salmon Fried Rice ( 鮭 チャーハン)

Special shout out to Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse in Bay Ridge, where during my four year tenure as a hostess I learned the art of making fried rice!
A Japanese man once told me that Buddha exists even in the smallest grain of rice. Perhaps this is why, rather than throwing away uneaten rice, many Japanese people will store it in the freezer. While it doesn't necessarily taste bad after it's defrosted, turning it into fried rice will guarantee it's edibility. Plus, you can throw in pretty much any type of meat; I used salmon in mine not just to make it gourmet but because it had been in my freezer for several weeks (mottainai!). If you do it right you'll never want to depend on the neighborhood Chinese place again. Here's what you'll need:
4 cloves garlic
3 cups white rice (cooked)
1/2 salmon fillet (in this particular instance I cooked a whole one and used half for the rice, half for a salad the next day)
Dash of salt
Black pepper to taste
1/4 cup scallions 
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup soy sauce        

Start with the salmon. Pour about 1/8 cup olive oil into a pan and cook over a low-medium flame. Be sure to turn over so that both sides are coated evenly.

                                               Cover to 
                                                ensure even                                                     cooking. 

Once through with the salmon, remove from the pan and add rice to the SAME PAN. This will help make the rice more flavorful as the residuals from the salmon are now in the oil the rice will absorb. Add the rest of the olive oil and mix in over medium-high flame for  about 30 seconds.

Add soy sauce. Tasting will be immensely helpful in determining how much to add; too much and the rice will taste too salty, too little and it will be a bit bland. We reccomend 1/8 cup.

After mixing in the soy sauce add the garlic. Try not to keep it near the bottom of the pan for too long as garlic tends to brown very quickly under these circumstances.

Add black pepper...

Salmon...

scallions...

And you get this! Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as an appetizer.