Basic Tempura Recipe

[Hiroyuki]

Basic Tempura Recipe

Serves 4 as Main Dish.

Here is a basic tempura recipe.

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Tempura batter

• 200 ml cake flour (hakuriki ko), with a gluten content of 6.5 to 9.0%
  
• 150 ml cold water (5 C = 41 F)
  
• 1 egg. The total amount of water and egg should be 200 ml. That is, flour:(water + egg) = 1:1.
  

Tentsuyu (tempura dipping sauce)

• 600 ml water
  
• 2 tsp instant dashi powder
  
• 150 ml soy sauce
  
• 150 ml mirin ("mirin-style seasoning", to be exact, which is alcohol-free and less expensive than real mirin)
  
• Grated daikon
  

Tendane or simply tane (tempura ingredients)

• 8 Aojiso aka ooba (perilla leaves)
  
• 8 Vannamei shrimp
  
• 1 Sweet potato
  
• Kakiage ingredients
  
• 1/4 Onion
  
• 1/2 Carrot (Oinion:carrot = 1:1)
  
• 1 pack of dried small shrimp (ko ebi or sakura ebi)
  

Tempura oil

• Vegetable oil such as "salad" oil, canola oil, cotton oil, or sesame oil
  

Tentsuyu:

Put water, mirin, soy sauce, and instant dashi powder in a pot, bring to a boil, and turn off heat.

Preparations for tempura:

1. Sweet potato:

Cut it into 1 cm (0.4 inch) thick slices and soak in water for 5 to 10 minutes (preferably longer) to prevent discoloration. Drain and let them dry.

2. Aojiso aka ooba (perilla leaves):

Wash and let dry on a paper towel.

3. Carrot, onion, and "ko ebi" (small shrimp) kakiage:

Cut onion and carrot into julienne, put them in a bowl, and add ko ebi.

d. Vannamei shrimp (white shrimp):

Shell shrimp, leaving the last segment, and devein using a bamboo skewer.

Cut tail end diagonally and force water out using the cutting edge (or back) of the knife to prevent oil splatters.

Make four or five cuts on the belly and bend the wrong way until it "snaps" to prevent curling during deep-frying.

Fryer:

Put oil in the fryer about 5 cm (2 inches) deep and turn on heat.

First, set the temperature control to 160 C (320 F), if you have one.

Batter:

Put 1 egg in a cup and add cold water up to the 200-ml level.

(In Japan, 1 cup is equivalent to 200 ml.)

Put them in a bowl. Mix well.

Sift 1 cup flour and add it to the bowl. Use a pair of chopsticks to mix. DON'T OVERMIX.

Deep-frying:

1. Ooba:

Dust with flour on the lower side only to ensure adhesion of batter, and coat thinly with batter on the lower side only. Deep-fry at low temperature (around 160 C = 320 F) for 1 minute. If deep-fried longer, the leaves will turn bitter and brown.

Remove tenkasu (tempura batter balls) occasionally. Don't throw kenkasu away. Use it to make takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and so on.

2. Sweet potato:

Coat thickly with batter and deep-fry at medium temperature (around 170 C = 338 F) for 4 to 6 minutes.

3. Kakiage:

Kakiage requires some special steps:

a. Add some flour to the bowl containing carrot, onion, and shrimp, and mix to ensure adhesion of batter.

b. Add some batter to the bowl.

c. Scoop some with a ladle with holes (or with your fingers) and deep-fry at medium temperature for 3 minutes.

4. Vannamei shrimp:

Dust with flour, coat thinly with batter, and deep-fry at high temperature (180 C = 356 F) for 1 to 2 minutes.

Grate daikon.

Serve with cold soba (buckwheat noodles) or hot rice.

For more info, please visit the tempura thread in the Cooking Forum

Keywords: Main Dish, Intermediate, Japanese, Deep Fryer

( RG1908 )