Pumpkin tempura with peppered pineapple caramel

Method

1. First prepare the peppered pineapple caramel sauce. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and pineapple juice and peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil.

2. Cook briskly until the mixture is a deep caramel colour and has the consistency of syrup, around 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cream, return the saucepan to the high heat, and boil the sauce until it regains the consistency of a thick syrup, about 2 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, season the pumpkin pieces with salt. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, corn flour, sugar, salt, egg, and sparkling water and mix well to make a smooth batter.

5. Heat the oil for deep-frying in a deep fat-fryer or wok until very hot.

6. Dip each piece of pumpkin in the batter, shaking off any excess batter.

7. Fry the batter-coated pumpkin slices in batches, adding each batch carefully to the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

8. Mix together the cinnamon and caster sugar and sprinkle some of this over the pumpkin tempura. Season with some of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

9. Serve the pumpkin tempura with scoops of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of the peppered pineapple caramel sauce.