← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 4 large raw prawns, peeled with tails on, deveined
• 120 g kabocha or butternut squash, cut into 5 mm slices
• 1 small aubergine, cut into fans or thick slices
• 2 Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 handful of green beans or 4 okra (optional)
• 60 g plain flour
• 2 tbsp potato starch or cornflour
• 1 egg yolk
• 150 ml ice-cold water
• 1 l neutral oil, for deep-frying
• 60 ml Dashi powder or stock
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 3 tbsp Mirin
• 1 tbsp Sake
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 500 g hot cooked Japanese short-grain rice

Method

1. Simmer the sauce ingredients in a small pan over medium heat for 2–3 min, until slightly syrupy. Set aside.
2. Make a few shallow cuts on the belly of each prawn and press them flat so they stay straight. Pat the prawns and vegetables completely dry.
3. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 170°C (340°F). Mix the egg yolk with the iced water, then add the flour and starch and stir just a few strokes with chopsticks. Lumps are fine; overmixing makes heavy tempura.
4. Dust each piece lightly with extra flour, dip in batter and fry in small batches: 2–3 min for the vegetables and about 2 min for the prawns, until pale golden and crisp. Drain on a rack.
5. Fill two deep bowls with hot rice and drizzle a little sauce over it.
6. Dip each piece of tempura briefly in the warm sauce, arrange it on the rice and spoon over the rest. Eat straight away.

Tips

• Keep the batter bowl cold (set it over ice) and make it at the last moment for the lightest crust.
• Shop-bought tempura reheated in a hot oven also makes a fast weeknight tendon.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101