Tempura is a traditional Japanese food. It consists of deep fried vegetables and seafood eaten with tempura sauce. Some people enjoy Tempura by itself, eat it over rice to make Tempura don, or combine it with a bowl of soba.
Do you know Tempura? It’s a combination of deep fried vegetables and seafood. There are so many Japanese restaurants that offer tempura, and there are restaurants that specialize in only tempura as well. In my opinion, tempura is so special. When I was a kid, I remember that tempura was always served at important events. After I became an adult, I can eat tempura anytime but it’s still a food that I associate with special times.
What Ingredients can I use for Tempura?
In this recipe I use,
- kabocha
- eggplant
- shiitake mushroom
- shrimp
- sweet potato
But you can actually use a lot of other vegetables or seafood!
Other options are:
- broccoli
- carrot
- onion
- tilapia
- egg
3 Tips to make crispy tempura
There are 3 tips to make crispy tempura.
- Always remove water from the ingredients.
If the ingredients contain water, you can’t make crispy tempura. For example if you use frozen shrimp, completely defrost and pat dry well. - Put ice in the batter.
If the egg is warm, gluten will be made and we don’t want it to make crispy tempura. Adding ice will prevent an outbreak of gluten. - Do not mix cake flour and water.
If you mix too much, too much gluten will be made. So do not mix too much. The best batter for tempura contains lumps.
Those three are so important.
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Tempura
Ingredients
- 50 g Kabocha What is kabocha
- 1/4 eggplant
- 4 shiitake mushroom
- 4 shrimp
- 1/4 Yukon gold potatoes
For batter
- 180 ml cold water Add 4-6 ice in 180ml cold water.
- 1 egg
- 150 g cake flour
- 1/3 salt
For deep-frying
- 4 cup neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) for deep frying
To eat
- tempura sauce (here to buy)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- For kabocha, remove the seeds and scoop out pumpkin guts. Cut into long strips. Please be careful when you cut kabocha because it is extremely hard.
- For potato, wash well to get rid of soil, and cut into half-moon slices. After you cut the potatoes, soak them in water for at least 10 minutes.
- For eggplant, cut into long quarters. If you use large egg plant, cut 6-8 pieces.
- For shiitake mushroom, cut and remove the stem and then cut in half.
- For shrimp, leave the shrimp tail and remove the shell and sand vein. Score 2-3 lines around stomach.
For batter
- In a medium bowl, add egg, salt, and cold water (ice in). Mix well.
- Add cake flour in the bowl and mix lightly and roughly. The mixture is good if you see lumps.
For making tempura
- Before even starting, wipe off any water from all the ingredients with paper towel in order to make crispy tempura.
- Add vegetable oil in a small-medium pot or deep pan and turn the heat to medium.
- kabocha - When the oil hits around 320f° (160c°), add kabocha into the batter bowl first, then put it in the pot. Deep fry for 4 minutes, and then take out. *1
- potato - Next, at 320f° (160c°), add sweet potato into the batter bowl first, then put it in the pot. Deep fry for 3 minutes, and then take out.
- eggplant - Next, when oil hit is around 330f° (170c°), put eggplant in the batter bowl first, then put in the pot. Deep fry for 1 minute.
- mushrooms - Then, at the same temperature, put shiitake mushrooms in the batter bowl first, then put in the pot. Deep fry for 3 minutes.
- shrimp - Finally, when the oil hits 375f° (190c°), put shrimp in the batter bowl first, then put in the pot. Deep fry for 1 minute.
- Let's serve! You can eat with rice, soba or by itself! If you remember the technique in the recipe, you can make crispy tempura from now on!
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