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Good tempura depends on the quality of the batter. The following recipe uses cold water and alcohol to slow down gluten. Alcohol does not contribute to gluten and insures that the batter does not thicken with time.
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| Ingredients for the tempura: King Prawns (250g), grape seed or sunflower oil, egg (1), alcohol (Aquavit 42% vol or vodka) |
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| Ingredients for the dipping sauce: mirin, soy sauce, sugar, fresh ginger. |
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| Sushi mix (One can also use a mix of all-purpose flour and cornstarch in a 75/25 ratio) |
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| Ingredient for batter: 200ml ice cold water or ice cold tea (here: verbena and ginger infusion) |
Batter: all ingredients must be stored in fridge until just before mixing (very important).
Uncooked prawns (better): peel the shells, remove the digestive track but leave the tails. Cooked prawns: thoroughly dry them with kitchen towel.
Dipping sauce: whisk together 60ml soy sauce, 40ml mirin, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger.
Heat the oil to 180ºC.
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| Batter: (i) Mix 200ml ice cold water/tea with 100ml ice cold aquavit/vodka; (ii) beat the egg yolk lightly and add to the mixture; (iii) Add 1/2 of flour mix (50g) to the mixture and give it a few strokes with the chopsticks; (iv) Add the rest of the flour at ounce. Stroke a few times with the chopsticks. The batter should be lumpy (if you over-mix, tempura will be heavy). |
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| Dip the shrimps, a few pieces at a time into the batter. Fry, stirring with chopstick to prevent sticking, until light golden, 1 to 1/2 minute. Tranfer to paper towel-lined plate. serve immediately. |
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| Serve with the Dipping Sauce. |
Vegetables can be cooked the same way but at a lower 160ºC temperature. Examples: courgettes (remove the seeds, cut into strips), mushrooms (remove the stalk and cut them in 1/2 or 1/3 depending on their size) and celeri at 160ºC; parsley at 140ºC; and other herbs at 130ºC.
Alternative sauce (Tentsuyu Sauce): 200ml dashi stock, 50ml mirin, 50ml soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger. combine the ingredients in a small saucepan, heat and leave to rest while doing the tempura.
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