Tempura (Japan)

World-Bites (3) / Tempura (Japan)


One of the triumphs of Japanese cooking -- a fried food that is light and fresh-tasting
rather than heavy and greasy, Tempura is a popular Japanese dish of deep-fried battered meats, seafood or vegetables. It's a cooking style in which the essence of the ingredient itself completely defines the taste. In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura are called tempura-ya and range from inexpensive fast food chains to very expensive five-star restaurants. Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or an obento (lunch box), and it is also a popular ingredient in take-out or convenience store obento boxes. Outside Japan (as well as recently in Japan), restaurants sometimes use broccoli, zucchini and asparagus. American restaurants are known to serve tempura in the form of various meats, particularly chicken, and cheeses, usually mozzarella.

Ingredients (vegetable/shrimp tempura)

1 onion
8 cauliflower florets
16 green beans
8 mushroom heads
1 potato
8 shrimp (medium)

Batter

2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs (yolk)
1 cup tap water

Dip

6-inch white radish
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon sugar

First make the dip. Heat soy sauce with sugar and stock. Add pinch of salt and pepper. Let it cool in a bowl. Add lemon juice and pour on grated radish. Dip is ready.

Peal and cut onion in 1/4inch slices. Secure the onion slices with toothpicks. Cut sweet potatoes into 1/8-inch slices and dip them in cold water. Wash mushroom heads, dry them with paper towel. Cut the ends of green beans. Peel the shrimp but keep the tails. Pat dry them and take out any liquid left in them.

Prepare the batter. Beat the egg yolk in a large bowl. Add cold water and beat to mix. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Batter is ready.

Dip vegetables/shrimp in batter and deep fry in small batches on medium heat. Serve hot with the dip.