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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Perfect Tempura

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tempura 

 

I had it in my mind that I would learn to make perfectly crunchy tempura at home, the same you get at (good) Japanese restaurants. I tried doing tempura at home in the past and the results have always been mediocre. This time around, I was determined to make it right. I had a secret weapon though, that not everyone may have: a Japanese co-worker that happens to also be a great cook. She told me there are two important things to consider for a perfect tempura:

1- the batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies help create a crispy tempura.

2- the batter cannot be a smooth one. It is best to leave it lumpy, it will help create the bumps we see on the outside of the veggies and shrimp tempura.

The last tip I got was on how to make tempura sauce. I know you can buy it ready at most supermarkets, but I wanted to learn to make my own. The sauce ingredients need to simmer for a few minutes and then be strained. Do not let them boil.

For my homemade tempura adventure I used shrimp (the largest ones I cold find), sweet potatoes, yams, eggplants and onions. It turned out really nice and crispy. I could actually hear the sound of the batter cracking on our neighbour’s mouth as she enjoyed some of the shrimp tempura.

 

Tempura Recipe:

serves 4

Equipment needed: (this is not a mandatory list, but I found that it helped me a lot)

1 wok or very large pot

1 medium strainer, or “spider” to remove tempura from oil

1 cooling rack set over a baking tray to drain the tempura

chopsticks to mix the batter

 

You will need:

For the tempura:

1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch thick

1 yam, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch thick

1 onion, peeled and cut into rings

1 small eggplant, sliced into rings about 1/4 inch think. Cut each ring in half

1 dozen large shrimps, deveined, tails on, flattened*

canola oil for frying

* To flattened the shrimp, make an shallow cut along the back of the shrimp and press it down to flatten it.

 

For the batter:

1 large egg, cold

150ml iced water

200g of flour, cold (leave four in the fridge to chill it)

 

For the tempura sauce:

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of water

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)

1/4 cup of bonito flakes

 

Make the sauce:

 

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and gently simmer for about 2 minutes. Strain and discard solids. Set aside.

 

Make the batter:

In a medium size bowl, lightly beat the egg, add the water and  mix it well. Add the flour and mix it using two chopsticks. Do not over mix it, leave a few lumps of flour. If the oil is hot and the vegetables and shrimp are ready, dip each into the batter and fry until the outside is golden and looking crispy. The vegetables will first sink to the bottom of the wok (or large pot) and rapidly come to the top. Drain in a cooling rack set over a baking tray. Serve immediately with the sauce for dipping.

 

Note: keep all ingredients chilled until you are ready to fry the tempura. I first prepared the veggies and shrimp, then left them in the fridge while the oil heated and I prepared the batter. If the oil is not ready by the time you finish the batter, leave in the fridge as well until ready to use.

 

 

tempura1

 

8 comments:

Smas said...

Adoro tempura!
Vou ver se tenho tudo para testar esta receitinha :)

Anonymous said...

My grandma uses ice cubes instead of tab-water to mix the flour in the beginning. As the ice cubes melt, the flour mixture is naturally much colder, so it helps to crisp the flour coat even more!

the quirky mom said...

wow! thanks! now I can make tempura with a vengeance!

BumbleVee said...

hey Rita... saw your comment over at Kevin's .... the custard is usually more yellow that his shows... it may just have been the light when he took the photo...I use Bird's custard powder in mine when I make them...it is always lovely and yellow....

Adriana said...

Humm... tá com uma cara boa e deve estar uma delícia!
Vou experimentar!

Tapping Therapy said...

My friends and I will be celebrating a mini-reunion in two weeks time. The tempura dish is perfect for our Kimono party. I still have time to practice your recipe. Hope I can perfect the texture and taste!

Anonymous said...

for a very tasty tempura sauce!!!! Rice wine vinegar seasoned,mushroom flavored extra dark soy sauce,sesame oil,thin sliced green onions,pinch of salt pinch of sugar dash of pepper, mix well and store in fridge. One important note use quality sesame oil the cheap stuff tastes like motor oil and covers the taste of everything. A good one I found is Kadoya brand made in Japan.

Anonymous said...

I had some problems getting the finished project to be crispy. My thermometer seemed to have the oil at the right temp. I don't know what was wrong. It came out sort of spongy unfortunately.

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