Sansai Temupra

Sasanqua,one of the subspecies of camellia

Tempura is one the famous Japanese food and shrimps, fish and vegetables are popular ingredients for tempura. However, we cook variety of Sansai for tempura. Sansai literally means mountain vegetables, including mushrooms and flowers. We pick them up in autumn and enjoy their fresh and bitter flavor. The purple ones are Sasanqua (Sazanka) tempura, which are crispy and slightly sweat. Mushrooms are juicy but you should avoid to pick poisonous mushrooms.

Mixed tempura: onions,burdock and fish cakes.

Fish cakes are often used for tempura substituting for fish among people who live in hills and mountains. Because, it was difficult to get fresh fish there until a few decades ago.Grated daikon (radish) goes well with just fried tempura.

Ishidatamino yado, Uchiko, Ehime, Japan