As a vegan, you probably haven’t eaten a fritto misto in a while as it’s usually made from a selection of fried seafood. Here, I give mushrooms an oceanic flavour by blanching them in kombu.
SERVES 6-8
Ingredients
400g king oyster mushrooms
400g enoki mushrooms
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Salt flakes, for sprinkling
Lemon wedges, to serve
Kombu broth
1 litre (4 cups) water
10 × 15cm piece dried kombu, cut into thirds
15g dried wakame
50ml vegan fish sauce
1 tablespoon mushroom seasoning (optional; you can find this at most Asian grocery stores)
Batter
150g rice flour
60g cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
150ml white wine
150ml iced water
To prepare the king oyster mushrooms, start by trimming the end of the stalk then cutting off the caps. Slice the caps in half and shred the thick stalk into rough 1cm thick strips. For the enoki, trim off the woody end and break into small clusters about 2cm thick. Place the prepared mushrooms in a large bowl.
For the kombu broth, add all the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
Place a fine-mesh sieve over the mushrooms and pour the hot kombu broth over them. Allow the mushrooms to steep in the broth for a minimum of 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
To make the batter, add the rice flour, cornflour, baking powder, salt, pepper and paprika to a bowl and whisk to combine. Create a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the wine and iced water, whisking continuously until the batter is smooth. It should resemble a thin pancake batter.
Heat about 5cm oil in a large saucepan or high-sided frying pan until it reaches 170˚C.
Remove the mushrooms from the kombu broth and dry well with paper towel.
Working in batches, dip the mushrooms into the batter, making sure each piece is well coated, then drop into the oil and fry till golden brown and crispy.
Season with salt flakes and serve with lemon wedges.
Recipes from Vegan Italian Food: Over 100 Recipes for a Plant-based Feast by Shannon Martinez
Published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally.
