Japanese Delights 2024

6.7 Tempura

I shall prepare 21 delights of Japan and publish them in 7 consecutive episodes. Episodes 1 to 5 were already published and now is episode 6.

6.7 Tempura 天ぷら

Tempura (天ぷら or 天麩羅, tenpura) is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep fried. Tempura has its origins dating back to the 16th century, when Portuguese Jesuits brought the Western-style cooking method of coating foods with flour and frying to Japan, via Nanban trade.

The word "tempura", or the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them, comes from the word tempora, a Latin word meaning "times", "time period" used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days (ad tempora quadragesima), Fridays, and other Christian holy days. Ember Days, or quatuor anni tempora in Latin, refer to holy days when Catholics avoid meat and eat fish or vegetables instead.

Today in Japan, the mainstream of tempura recipes originate from "Tokyo style" (also known as Edo style) tempura, invented at the food stalls along the riverside fish market in the Edo period.

Japanese dashi soup stock

Ingredients
. 10g kombu kelp
. 20g  katsuobushi bonito flakes, 

   or dashino moto (dried bonito) , 

   or dried fish such as small sardine and mackerel

. 1L water

Method

1. Soak the kombu kelp:
In a medium sized saucepan, soak the 10g kombu kelp in 1L of water for 30 minutes.
Heat then add katsuobushi:
2. Heat the kombu kelp and water over low heat. Simmer slowly until it is almost boiling, then turn the heat off. Add the 20g katsuobushi flakes, and leave it to rest for 10 minutes.
3. Strain:
Strain the dashi with a sieve. Store or use for all your Japanese cooking needs.

Tempura sauce Tentsuyu 天つゆ

Ingredients

· 1 cup dashi soup stock

· 1 tablespoon soy sauce
· 1 tablespoon sake (or mirin)
· 1 ½ teaspoons sugar (leave it out if you use mirin)
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 300 grams daikon (optional)
· 20 grams ginger (optional)

Instructions
1. Add 1 cup dashi, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sake, 1 ½ teaspoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt to a pot and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.
2. Cook the tentsuyu for 1 minute over medium heat or until it no longer smells like alcohol.
3. For the tentsuyu condiments, peel and grate 300 grams daikon and 20 grams ginger separately. Daikon contains a lot of water, so I recommend lightly draining it so it does not water down your tempura sauce.
4. Serve the tempura dipping sauce hot with the grated daikon and ginger along with your favorite vegetable or shrimp tempura. If you don't plan to use it right away, store it in an airtight container for up to a week.

Tartar Sauce タルタルソース

Ingredients
. 1 large egg(s)
· 1/4 large onion 55-65g
· 4 Tablespoon Japanese mayonnaise
· 2 teaspoon rice vinegar
· 1/3 teaspoon salt
· 1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

· 1/3 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

1. Add enough water to easily cover the egg in a pot. Bring it to a boil. When it is boiling, add the egg to the pot, and boil for exact 9 minutes.
2. Cut the onion into small pieces.

Preparation

1. In a bowl, add the boiled egg and smash it.
2. Add the cut onion, Japanese mayonnaise, rice vinegar, salt, black pepper, and sugar into the bowl. Mix well.

Tempura Batter

Mix Tempura flour (tempura batter mix) and water in a bowl

Egg Tempura 鶏卵の天ぷら

Ingredients
. 4 frozen eggs 

. flour, cake flour or all purpose flour

. 3 tbsp. Tempura flour
. 4 tbsp. water
. vegetable oil for deep frying

Directions
1. Mix Tempura flour and water in a bowl to make batter.

2. Peel the frozen eggs, dust with flour, then coat with the batter.
3. Deep fry eggs in oil at 170C (338F) for 6 minutes. When they float up to the surface, flip them over to cook evenly. You can eat them with salt, soy sauce, Tempura sauce, Dashi broth, or any seasoning you like.

Garnish: Christmas Flowers

Red ginger sliced (ginger + beets + rice vinegar + sugar), wasabi, shredded Daikon radish

▲ 16. Vegetable Tempura     野菜の天ぷら

Common vegetables for Tempura are kabocha squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, perilla/shiso leaves, eggplants, bell peppers, okra, mushrooms, lotus root, and onion.

Ingredients

. Orange sweet potato and purple yam cut into ¼-inch (6 mm) rounds and soak in water for 15–30 minutes to remove the excess starch. Then, pat dry them with paper towels.

. ⅛ kabocha squash cut into ¼-inch (6 mm) slices.

. 2 inch lotus root (renkon) cut into ¼-inch (6 mm) slices. Soak the lotus root in vinegar water (2 cups water + 1 tsp vinegar) for 5 minutes and pat dry them with paper towels.
. Shiitake mushrooms soaked in cold water and drained well.

. Green beans cut both ends.

. Nori sea weeds ¼ sheet.

. Tempura flour, ice cold water 

. Corn starch

. 3-4 cups neutral oil for frying

Instructions

1. Mix Tempura flour (tempura batter mix) and ice cold water in a bowl. Chill the batter and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
2. Fill a shallow bowl with corn starch.
3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough (you can test by dropping some batter to hot oil, if it floats immediately, it is ready), dust each piece of vegetable or mushroom in corn starch, then dip in batter. No need to dust nori with corn starch, just dip the dull side in batter. Then deep fry until golden brown and crispy.

4. Remove and drain on a wire rack or paper towel. 

5. Plate with garnish.
6. Serve immediately with steamed white rice, Tempura sauce and Tartar Sauce.

▲ 17. Ebi No Tempura   海老の天ぷら

In Japan, Shrimp tempura is called ebi no tempura (海老の天ぷら) or ebiten (えび天). Ebi means shrimp and ten comes from tempura.

Ingredients
· 1 lb large shrimp peeled and deveined with tail on end

. Tempura flour, ice cold water 

. corn starch

. 3-4 cups neutral oil for frying

Instructions

1. Prepare the shrimp. Peel the shrimp leaving the tail at the end. Devein the shrimp and then make very shallow tiny cuts across the underbelly of the shrimp and then again along both sides of the shrimp. Lightly squeeze and straighten the shrimp on a paper towel-lined plate.

2. Mix Tempura flour (tempura batter mix) and ice cold water in a bowl. Chill the batter and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
3. Fill a shallow bowl with corn starch.
4. In a heavy-bottomed pot, add the neutral oil enough to cover about 2 inches of oil in the pot. Place a candy thermometer onto the pot and heat to 350ºF (180ºC).
5. Gently coat the shrimp with corn starch and shake off any excess.
6. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and give it a quick mix. Dust each shrimp with corn starch. Dredge each shrimp into the batter covering thoroughly, remove any excess, and immediately slowly lower the shrimp into the oil while making a swirling motion to fry. Dip your fingers into the batter and drizzle it over the shrimp while it is frying. Fry each shrimp for about 2 minutes or until the shrimp is pink and the batter is light, golden, and crispy. Remove the tempura bits each time to avoid burning and overcrowding.

7. Cool and serve. Remove the cooked shrimp with a spider strainer or slotted spoon and place onto a wire rack to drain any excess oil.

8. Plate with garnish, egg tempura, green bean tempura and nori tempura.
9. Serve immediately with steamed white rice, Tempura sauce and Tartar Sauce.

▲ 18. Mebaru No Tempura    めばるの天ぷら

Fish Tempura (白身魚の天ぷら) is deep-fried white fish in Tempura batter. It has a very light feel even though it’s deep-fried, therefore this even appeals to people who do not prefer heavy dishes.

You can use any fish of your choice, but make sure to remove excess moisture from the fish. A lot of fish today are previously frozen and get watery when defrosted. This moisture will affect the texture of the batter when deep-fried. To absorb the moisture, wrap fish with a paper towel for a couple of hours or even overnight if you have time.

I use Rockfish which is mebaru めばる, めばる, メバル/鮴 in Japanese.

Ingredients
· Rockfish  fillet

. salt, black pepper powder

. Tempura flour, ice cold water 

. corn starch

. 3-4 cups neutral oil for frying

Instructions

1. Cut Rockfish fillet into 3 inch size piece. Mix fish with salt and black pepper and leave for 10 minutes. Remove moisture from fish with a paper towel. (Wrap fish with a paper towel longer in the fridge if you can.)

2. Mix Tempura flour and ice cold water for the batter.

3. Fill a shallow bowl with corn starch.

3. Heat oil to 350 F. Coat fish with corn starch. Dip fish in the batter and deep-fry for a couple of minutes until cooked through.

4. Plate with garnish,  green bean tempura, lotus tempura, mushroom tempura, yam tempura and nori tempura.

5. Serve immediately with steamed white rice, Tempura sauce and Tartar Sauce.

《Ingredients & Condiments》

Next, Japanese Delights 2024

          7.7 Tempura Yakisoba

Coming Next, Byrne Creek Christmas Lunch 2024

Coming Soon,  Hall Tower Christmas Turkey Feast 2024

Publisher： Chef Kar Delight