Basic Tempura Recipe
Tempura is a popular Japanese deep-fried seafood/vegetables encased in a light yet crisp batter. Learn how to make perfect tempura at home!
Servings: 2
Calories: 308kcal
Ingredients
Tempura Batter: (egg + water : flour = 1 : 1 by volume)
- 1 large egg (50 g w/o shell) (keep it cold)
- 200 ml iced water (keep it cold)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour) (keep it cold)
Tempura Sauce:
- ¾ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more) (or ¾ cup water + 1 tsp dashi powder)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp sugar
Tempura Ingredients
- 4 shrimp
- 1 Japanese/Chinese eggplant
- 2 king oyster mushrooms (eringi)
- 2 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba)
- 4 slices lotus root (renkon)
- 4 slices Japanese sweet potato (Satsumaimo)
- 4 slices kabocha (squash/pumpkin)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour) (for dusting)
- neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) (for deep frying; neutral-flavored oil: sesame oil = 10: 1)
To Serve
- 2 inches daikon radish (grated and lightly squeeze to drain)
Instructions
To Make Tempura Sauce
- Combine dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat and let it simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.
To Prepare Ingredients
- To make the shrimp straight, follow this instruction on how to straighten the shrimp. Pat dry and make sure moisture is completely removed from the shrimp.
- Cut all the vegetables into thin 5-mm slices. For eggplant, discard the head, then cut it in half lengthwise. Followed by cutting the eggplant lengthwise into very thin slices (about ⅛ inch or 3 mm) leaving the top 1-inch part intact. Then, gently press down to fan the slices out.
To Prepare Oil
- In a medium-size pot, heat 1 ½" to 2" (3-5 cm) of the oil to 350°F (180°C).
To Make Tempura Batter
- While oil is heating up, start preparing the tempura batter. Add the egg into the icy water in a 2-cup measuring cup (or any bowl). Whisk the egg mixture vigorously and discard the foam on the surface.
- Sift the flour into a large bowl. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour. Mix the batter but do not over mix; it's okay to leave some lumps in the batter. Keep the batter cold at all times (keep in the fridge). Make batter right before deep frying to avoid activation of wheat gluten.
To Deep Fry Tempura
- Check the oil temperature with a thermometer to make sure the oil is 350°F (180°C). You can also use chopsticks; when you see small bubbles around chopsticks, it’s ready for deep frying. If you want to read more about deep frying tips, please read this post.
- Start deep frying with cleaner ingredients (less astringent); for example, the cooking order would be shiso → mushroom → eggplant → shrimp → sweet potatoes, and kabocha. Coat the ingredients in the batter. For shrimp, sprinkle some flour or potato starch (or cornstarch) over to will help adhere to the tempura batter.
- Deep fry the ingredients until golden brown. Do not crowd the pot because the oil temperature will drop quickly. Here's the rough cooking time for the ingredients. Shiso (350ºF/180ºC, 20-30 seconds)→ mushroom (350ºF/180ºC, 1 min) → eggplant (350ºF/180ºC, 1 min) → shrimp (350ºF/180ºC, 2 minutes)→ sweet potatoes, and kabocha (320ºF/160℃, 2-3 mins).
- Transfer the Tempura to a wire rack or a plate lined with a paper towel to drain excess the oil.
- Between batches, scoop up the crumbs in the oil (this is called Tenkasu), which will burn and turn the oil darker if left in the pot.
To Serve
- Grate the daikon and squeeze the liquid out. Prepare 3-4 Tbsp of warm Tentsuyu in individual small bowls and serve grated daikon on the side.
- Put 1 Tbsp of grated daikon in the sauce and dip the tempura in the sauce to enjoy.
Nutrition
Calories: 308 kcal · Carbohydrates: 43 g · Protein: 12 g · Fat: 10 g · Saturated Fat: 7 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 123 mg · Sodium: 473 mg · Potassium: 857 mg · Fiber: 7 g · Sugar: 8 g · Vitamin A: 7256 IU · Vitamin C: 24 mg · Calcium: 97 mg · Iron: 3 mg