tempura vegetables | Eat the Earth

Who would have ever guessed that a blog about eating locally would have involved a post about the Trafford Centre. I am, however, only human, and I have a weakness for spoiling my little sister. For a fifteen-year-old girl, especially one from the middle of rural Gloucestershire, there can be nothing better than a trip to the Trafford Centre when visiting ones big sister.

I am not really prepared for a visit to the Trafford Centre, I find it rather crowded and overwhelming, and far too stifling. We had to refresh after a couple of hours and rehydrate with a quite good smoothie.

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After a looooooooooong day, a couple of bags and quite a number of hours later the shopping part was over. N finished work and met us for dinner, which was at the request of the little sister – Tampopo. She revealed she had already read their menu online a number of times, and knew exactly what she wanted.

tempura vegetables

We shared some starters – Tempura Vegetables with plum sauce, and Goi Cuon (delicate spring rolls – not the deep fried version – filled with rice noodles and vegetables) with a soy and ginger dipping sauce. My favourite of the tempura vegetables were the green beans, but as N pointed out that’s probably because they were mostly batter :0) The Goi Cuon were so fresh and scrumptious, and by complete chance I have a book out from the library on street food which has a recipe for them – one to try soon I hope!

Goi Cuon

For mains N had Singapore Noodles – curry sauce with chicken and prawns.

Singapore noodles

The little sister chose a vegan Japanese noodle dish – Yaki Udon – with red peppers.

Yaki Udon

And I went for Chap Chai, which is Korean rice noodles with cucumber and shitake mushrooms. De-lish!

Chap Chai

So, although this isn’t the homemade, seasonal, locally distinct food that I normally like to cook and eat, it was a fun night out and made the little sister very happy.

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