Tempura for a party

Tempura is a great way to feed a crowd at a kitchen party. Once you prepare all the vegetables and seafood or meats, make the batter, and heat the oil, all you have to do is cook and serve, and make merry. Provide each of your guest with a small plate, a small bowl of dipping sauce and a pair of chopsticks. If they like, they can even cook their own!
Ingredients: 
2 egg yolks
2 cups / 500 mL ice water
2 cups / 500 mL sifted flour
1 cup / 250mL dashi (Japanese bonito stock)
1/3 cup / 80 mL mirin, (Japanese sweet cooking wine)
1/3 cup / 80 mL light Japanese soy sauce
1 cup / 250 mL grated daikon radish
2 tsp / 10 mL grated ginger, or to taste

Basic batter: The trick to crisp and light tempura is to make the batter just before you’re ready to eat and make the batter in small batches, keeping it as cold as possible. The ingredients listed here can be made in two batches. Start by lightly beating 1 egg yolk. Add 1 cup / 250 mL of ice water and, using a pair of chopsticks, beat the mixture with a few strokes. Add flour all at once and lightly beat with another few strokes. Be careful not to over beat the batter. The batter should be quite lumpy. Dipping sauce: In a small saucepan, combine dashi, mirin and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add daikon and ginger. Mix and ladle into individual bowls. Ingredients for Tempura: All kinds of vegetables and seafood and meats can be used for Tempura. Harder vegetables should be blanched first, or sliced quite thin so that it will cook evenly and quickly. If you like, season the ingredients of choice with a pinch of salt and pepper and set them on a large platter and let your guests choose what they like. Here are a few suggestions: broccoli and cauliflower florets - blanched, cooled and pat dry carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes or yams - peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch(1/2 cm) slices sliced onions, mushrooms (shiitake or button) – thread them onto skewers to hold them together prawns – deveined and butterflied and threaded onto skewers sliced fish (halibut, salmon), scallops, blanched oysters, boneless chicken/turkey thighs, strips of pork and beef…. To cook: Heat oil in a saucepan or deep-fryer to about 360ºF/180ºC. To test if oil is ready, just drop a small drizzle of batter into the oil; if it floats to the top immediately the oil is ready. Dip ingredients into batter until coated and fry until lightly golden and crisp. It’s important not to fry too many pieces at the same time as keeping the oil at a constant temperature is the key to successful crisp, lacey tempura. When pieces are cooked, set them on paper towels briefly to drain off excess fat and serve. Periodically, you’ll need top skim off the bits of loose batter on the top of the oil as you go.