The tempura 天ぷら are fritters of vegetables, shellfish, fish… very light and very popular in Japan. The recipe is in itself quite simple and requires few products. The key to success lies in the extremely careful preparation of the ingredients and the quality of the oil.
For the ingredients, you can take for example :
- Shrimp
- White fish
- Eggplant
- Some shiso if you find some. It is quite rare in the trade, but you can like us grow some at home.
- Sliced sweet potatoes
- Sliced onions
- Or thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
Use fresh, seasonal fish and vegetables whenever possible.
Tempura recipe
Tempura are light fritters, very popular in Japan. The recipe itself is quite simple and requires few products.
Ingredients
Pâte à frire
- 150 ml ice-cold water
- 1 yellow egg
- 1 cup flour
Huile de friture
- neutral oil such as grape seed, sunflower
- 10 % sesame oil
Sauce Tsuyu
- 320 ml dashi
- 80 ml soy sauce
- 80 ml mirin
Instructions
- To make the Tsuyu sauce, in a saucepan, bring the mirin, soy sauce and dashi to a boil and then cook for 1 minute over low heat to remove the alcohol.
- Prepare your ingredients. For the shrimp, slit the abdomen to break the tendons so that they stay straight when cooked. Dry your food well with a cloth and arrange it on a plate. Sprinkle your ingredients with flour.
- Mix the egg yolk, fresh water and flour with a whisk. You must have a fluid paste, it is not obligatory to put all the quantity of flour of your glass. Preheat your oil, it should be between 160 °C and 165 °C.
- Dip your ingredients in the batter, then put them in the oil.
- Using chopsticks, turn them over regularly to ensure even cooking. (In order to cook comfortably and without the risk of oil spills, we use chopsticks that are longer than those intended for eating.).
- Once golden brown, take them out and place them on paper towels. Don't forget to skim off the frying chips that form as you go along.
- Arrange your ingredients vertically to give a nice relief effect. Then it's time to enjoy them with tsuyu sauce and a little salt. Enjoy your meal!
Our tips for tempura:
- Fry foods that take a long time to cook, such as fish and sweet potatoes, first and save the green vegetables for the end.
- You can arrange your tempura on Japanese round rice and drizzle with ponzu sauce, a delight!
- The oil should always be fresh, so change it often. We do not recommend reusing the oil. The vegetables release water into the oil and the food will taste more oily the next time you use it. You will also need to skim off the excess oil from the tempura.
- You can keep the fried chips to use in other dishes. Indeed, they are delicious in a soup with udon for example. You can also keep the shrimp scales and heads to fry them. They will then be eaten as an appetizer sprinkled with salt.
- Feel free to make our kakiage recipe, vegetable tempura. This recipe does not use egg in the tempura batter.
