Tempura

Name: Tempura
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 400 g large prawns (8–12 head-on, peeled but tails on), deveined and patted bone-dry; 1 small Japanese sweet potato (~200 g), peeled and cut into 5 mm rounds; 200 g kabocha squash, cut into 5 mm half-moons (skin left on); 1 Japanese eggplant, cut on the bias into 1 cm slices; 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed, caps scored with an X; 100 g shishito or thin green peppers, each pricked with a fork so they don't burst; For the batter (mix LAST, just before frying): 1 large egg, 250 ml ice-cold sparkling water, 150 g plain (cake) flour, sifted; 30 g extra plain flour for dusting the pieces before dipping; 1.5 L neutral oil for deep-frying (rice bran or vegetable); For the tentsuyu dipping sauce: 200 ml dashi, 60 ml soy sauce, 60 ml mirin; 30 g daikon, finely grated and lightly squeezed; 10 g fresh ginger, finely grated; Fine sea salt and lemon wedges, to serve

Tempura is Edo-period street food at its most refined: a lace-thin batter that crackles around prawns, sweet potato and kabocha rounds, and slim Japanese eggplant. The technique arrived with Portuguese Jesuits in the 16th century but was reshaped entirely on Japanese terms — ice-cold water, deliberately lumpy batter, and a quick fry that lets the vegetables steam inside their own shell. Good tempura is judged by the crust rather than what's underneath. The batter sits like lace on each piece, the first bite releases a soft puff of trapped steam, and the best Ginza restaurants fry one piece at a time and pass it straight from the chopsticks to the diner's plate.

Total time35m

Active time25m

Servings4

DifficultyMedium

Cost$

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🇯🇵

Edo street food refined

A 16th-century Portuguese technique made Japanese

❄️

Ice-cold lumpy batter

Five to eight stirs only — more develops gluten

🌡️

175°C, pale ivory crust

Hotter and the outside browns before the inside cooks

🍤

Straightened prawns

Three shallow cuts under the belly keep them flat

Ingredients 4 servings

400 g large prawns (8–12 head-on, peeled but tails on), deveined and patted bone-dry
1 small Japanese sweet potato (~200 g), peeled and cut into 5 mm rounds
200 g kabocha squash, cut into 5 mm half-moons (skin left on)
1 Japanese eggplant, cut on the bias into 1 cm slices
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed, caps scored with an X
100 g shishito or thin green peppers, each pricked with a fork so they don't burst
For the batter (mix LAST, just before frying): 1 large egg, 250 ml ice-cold sparkling water, 150 g plain (cake) flour, sifted
30 g extra plain flour for dusting the pieces before dipping
1.5 L neutral oil for deep-frying (rice bran or vegetable)
For the tentsuyu dipping sauce: 200 ml dashi, 60 ml soy sauce, 60 ml mirin
30 g daikon, finely grated and lightly squeezed
10 g fresh ginger, finely grated
Fine sea salt and lemon wedges, to serve

How to make it

1Pat the prawns and vegetables completely dry, then make three shallow cuts on the underside of each prawn and press gently along the spine so they fry straight rather than curling.
2For the tentsuyu, bring the dashi, soy sauce and mirin briefly to a simmer to cook off the alcohol, then divide between small dipping bowls and set the grated daikon and ginger alongside.
3Heat the oil in a heavy pot to 175°C, measured with a probe thermometer.
4Just before frying, beat the egg into the ice-cold sparkling water in a chilled bowl, tip in the sifted flour all at once and stir only five to eight strokes — the batter should still show streaks of dry flour.
5Dust each piece lightly with the extra flour, dip into the batter, and slip into the oil four or five at a time; prawns and shiitake take about 90 seconds, eggplant and kabocha 2 minutes, sweet potato 3 minutes, shishito a minute, and the crust should stay pale ivory.
6Lift onto a wire rack set over paper and serve straight away, with the tentsuyu, daikon and ginger to stir in, or the vegetables with a pinch of fine salt and a squeeze of lemon.