It seems very hard to learn the knack of tempura frying. With a little help, though, tempura deep frying can be so simple that you will want to show off to your friends. The main ingredients are vegetables and fish of your choosing. There are a few points that you have to remember: 1) slice the vegetables thin so they can be fried in a short time; 2) you will need a deep, thick-walled pan (a wok is OK) filled about 1 inch deep with peanut oil (try other types of oil if you like, but never add lard or shortening); 3) deep-fry in small batches so you can maintain the temperature of the oil; and finally 4) tempura-fry vegetables at 340F and fish at 360F.
Ingredients:
Koromo (batter): Using cold water (about 40F) is a must. This keeps the batter from becoming sticky. When you add the flour, whisk quickly just to mix it in evenly. Sticky batter results in oily tempura. 1 egg, beaten 1 cup COLD water 2 tablespoons dry white wine 1 cup flour Beat the egg and mix with water. Add flour and whisk quickly.
Tentsuyu (tempura dip): 1 tbsp. dashi no moto in 1 cup of water, boiled for two to three minutes 2 tbsp mirin. You can replace this with 1 tbsp. sugar 2 tbsp. sake or dry white wine 1/4 cup soy sauce ginger root to taste, freshly grated (optional) After you boil the dashi, turn off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients.
Vegetables & Fish (ingredients and preparation suggestions): Carrots, cut into thin sticks (i.e. 1 1/2 inches long) Onions, sliced Green pepper, cut into rings or any way you want Eggplant, thinly sliced Broccoli, prepared as for a for salad Green onions, (see mixed vegetable tempura -- kakiage) Zucchini, thinly sliced Mushrooms, halved, or whole if small Green beans, halved lengthwise, or whole Asparagus, bite-sized (deep-fry 3 or 4 sticks together) Butternut squash, bite-sized thin slices Okra, halved lengthwise Snow pea pods, whole Cod, bite-sized Shrimp, peeled, whole. Dip shrimp in the batter by holding the tail fin, and fry two or three at a time. Scallops, whole if small Crab, break shell and expose meat before dipping in batter Squid, sliced into rings or strips Dredge fish in flour before dipping in batter.
Directions: Heat the oil to 340F or 360F. Dip the vegetables or fish in the batter and place them in the oil. If it is difficult to handle the vegetable chunks, you may use a tablespoon to drop them in. Do not fry too much at a time, in order to maintain the temperature. Take the tempura out of the oil just when the batter gets SLIGHTLY brown. Vegetables usually take less than two to three minutes. Remember: the thinner the vegetable, the faster it cooks. For fish, the time to pull it out is when the batter turns very slightly brown. It is good idea to do trial frying in the beginning. Taste it and decide how long it will have to be fried. Once you get the timing right, the rest is simple. Serve with tentsuyu. Tempura is also served with rice. This is called ten-don. Put warm rice in a bowl or on a plate and place tempura on top of the rice. Pour on two or three tablespoons of tentsuyu. Another popular way of serving tempura is over a bowl of noodles. This is called tempura-udon or tempura-soba, and it is traditional Japanese fast food. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
cool 08-06-02, 07:52 AM Thaddeus831 Normal flour just won't cut the mustard in this case...be sure to use rice flour.
Plus for those who are shy away from using eggs (maybe your a vegan or something) to get that "fluffy" texture you can substiute both the egg and water for ice cold (40 F is good) soda water. I wouldn't say it was better than egg, but just different.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
