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Crispy Delights: Mastering and Enjoying Japanese Tempura
Discover how to make tempura, the crunchy and irresistible dish from Japan. This culinary delight is not nearly as difficult to make as you might think. We’ll teach you how to make the perfect tempura using our simple recipe. This post also serves as a guide to tempura ingredients, variations, serving techniques, and more.
Introduction to Tempura
Tempura is a popular Japanese dish that consists of lightly battered and deep-fried seafood and vegetables. The main ingredients are coated with a special batter and deep-fried in oil until they turn crispy. Tempura is often served with a traditional dipping sauce known as tentsuyu.
Common seafood ingredients used in tempura include shrimp, prawn, scallop, eel, cod, and pollock. In terms of vegetables, you’re likely to see batter-coated bamboo shoots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, ginger, and eggplants.
The historical origins of tempura date back to the 16th century, when a group of Portuguese christian missionaries arrived in the port city of Nagasaki, Japan. They introduced a Western-style cooking technique of coating ingredients with flour before frying them. It’s safe to say that this frying method caught on.
Today, tempura is one of the most popular Japanese dishes. You’ll find it in almost every Japanese restaurant within and outside the country.
What Makes Tempura Unique?
Tempura dishes are not your regular fried meals. They’re lighter, crunchier , and tastier than other deep-fried dishes. The secret to their unique characteristics lies in the batter.
Tempura batter is a special batter made with flour, egg yolk, and ice water. There are other variations that contain ingredients like cornstarch, baking soda, rice flour, soda water, and potato starch. However, unlike most of the other frying methods, tempura does not contain panko (breadcrumbs). It’s also less greasy because it doesn’t absorb oil as much.
Always serve tempura fresh if you hope to maintain its characteristic crispiness. The longer you leave it out, the more steam the food absorbs through its fluffy batter. This makes the food soggy after a while, ruining its texture and taste.
Types of Tempura
Let’s explore tempura’s versatility by looking at the most popular variants in Japan, ranging from the classics to innovative options. Below is a guide to the various types of tempura.
1. Shrimp Tempura
Arguably the most popular type of tempura, shrimp tempura is the go-to seafood version of the dish. It’s made of batter-dipped and deep-fried plump shrimp. This type of tempura is also known as ebi tempura. You can enjoy it as a standalone dish or as a topping for soba or udon noodle soup.
Restaurants that serve it often use a special Japanese technique to keep the shrimp from curling during the frying process. If you’re making ebi tempura at home, feel free to use prawns as an alternative to shrimp. When it comes to shrimp tempura, seafood selection becomes paramount. We’ll reveal more about that in our cooking guide.
2. Vegetable Tempura
Using vegetables for tempura instead of seafood is a common practice in Japan. It consists of at least one type of vegetable coated in batter. The dish offers endless options in terms of the main ingredients. However, the most common vegetables used are sweet potato, egg plant, mushroom, bell peppers, lotus root, okra, Kabocha squash, and pumpkin. You can enhance the taste of vegetable tempura by mixing grated daikon in its tentsuyu.
3. Fish Tempura
Also called sakana tempura, this type involves the use of any kind of small fish fillet or whole white fish. The most common types of whitefish used are whitebait, ayu sweetfish, goby, and Japanese whiting. You’ll enjoy eating fish tempura on a bowl of rice drizzled with a sauce made from ginger and soy.
4. Chicken Tempura
Toriten or chicken tempura, was invented in Oita Prefecture in 1962 and remains a popular dish in the region today. It’s made of seasoned chicken breasts or thigh strips. The dish is often served with ponzu sauce, giving it a strong citrusy flavor.
5. Leaf Tempura
You can make leaf tempura using any kind of vegetable leaf. However, people tend to choose shiso or perilla leaves because of their sharp, mint-like flavor. Other common leaves used to make leaf tempura are ooba leaf, maple leaf, celosia leaf, asparagus leaf, and chrysanthemum leaf. Remember to coat them in an extra-thin layer of batter before frying.
6. Kakiage
Kakiage donburi is a unique type of tempura because it uses both vegetables and seafood. The ingredients are mixed together or sliced into disc shapes before being coated with batter and deep-fried. You can eat kakiage as a side dish or appetizer. However, most people serve it on top of rice.
7. Tempura Ice Cream
Also known as fried ice cream, tempura ice cream is a modern dessert made by coating a ball of ice cream in batter and frying it until it turns golden. The temperature of the ice cream has to be extremely low to prevent it from melting during the frying process. Feel free to sprinkle cinnamon, sugar, or peppermint on it, or drizzle honey or whipped cream on it.
Tempura Across Japan: Regional Variations
There are two main regional variations of tempura across Japan: Kanto style and Kansai style. Both use different ingredients and flavors influenced by the local region.
Kanto is a region on the eastern side of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. It refers to a number of prefectures, including Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa prefectures. Traditional Kanto-style tempura consists of both seafood and vegetables deep-fried in sesame oil. It uses seafood from the local waters, such as Tokyo Bay’s yellowtail, skipjack, tuna, and mackerel. Kanto-style tempura is traditionally served with a mixture of shoyu (soy sauce) and dashi.
The Kansai region is located in the western parts of Honshu Island. This region is home to Kyoto, Osaka, Mie, Nara, and several other prefectures. Kansai-style tempura primarily uses vegetables and neutral oil or vegetable oil. The main serving condiment here is salt because it does not overpower the flavors of the vegetables. Common vegetables in the Kansai region include daikon radish, perilla leaf, eggplant, pumpkin, and yellow onion.
The Art of Making Tempura
Now that you have an idea of the different kinds of tempura, you’re ready to make your first batch of these crunchy delights. We’ve provided a detailed guide that covers all aspects of the tempura-making process in detail. Let’s dive in!
Selecting Ingredients
Your tempura can contain either seafood or vegetables. When choosing seafood, it’s always a good idea to select a juicy ingredient with a sweet flavor. That’s why seasonal seafood are ideal. At that moment, they’re at their peak when it comes to taste. For example, Japanese whiting and scallops are popular in the summer and winter, respectively.
When selecting vegetables, avoid plants with high moisture content. We’re talking about tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and other veggies that won’t hold the batter, causing your food to burn. Seasonal selection also comes into play with vegetables. For example, asparagus is ideal for spring and sweet potatoes are tastiest in the fall.
Meats are not ideal for tempura because of their weight. However, it’s possible to make tempura with chicken or eggs. Doing that may require some finesse. So, it’s best if you stick to traditional ingredients. When starting out, we recommend that you make shrimp tempura or sweet potato tempura.
Preparing Tempura Batter
While picking the right ingredients helps a lot, the batter is the most important aspect of tempura. You can buy it as a pre-mixed tempura batter or make it from scratch in your kitchen. The key to making batter that produces a crunchy texture is to limit gluten formation during its preparation.
To prepare tempura batter, mix all-purpose flour, eggs, and ice water in a bowl. We recommend that the volume of flour you use be around the same as the volume of egg + water. Use chopsticks to mix them for about 20 seconds and store the bowl in a refrigerator until ready to use. Don’t store it for more than a few minutes before deep-frying to avoid excess gluten formation.
Deep-Frying Tempura Ingredients
The deep-frying part of the tempura-making process can be tricky, but mastering it is how you establish yourself as an expert at getting the perfect light and crispy texture. For your first attempt, use the deep-frying technique explained in the following steps:
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Prepare the ingredients. For shrimp, peel and clean each piece. For sweet potatoes, slice the vegetable into 5 mm unpeeled pieces. Dry them by patting them with a paper towel.
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Sprinkle the ingredients with light dusting. A light coat of flour, cornstarch, or potato starch on the ingredients will help batter stick to them.
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Heat oil in a pot to a temperature of 180 °C. You can use either neutral oil alone or add a little sesame oil to it.
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Dip each piece of the ingredient in the batter and add it to the hot oil. Allow a second or two for the excess batter to drip off the shrimp or potato before adding. Also, do not cover more than half the oil surface.
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Allow the ingredients to deep-fry for 2–3 minutes. If you’re using shrimp, 2 minutes is enough. For potatoes, it should fry for 3 minutes. Lighter ingredients, like leaves, should fry for half a minute.
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Take the tempura pieces out when they turn golden brown. You can place them on a paper towel or wire rack. They’re ready to serve.
Tempura Tentsuyu: The Dipping Sauce
Traditional tempura dipping sauce, or tentsuyu, is made from dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar (optional). If you’ve never heard of dashi, it’s a popular Japanese soup stock sold in Asian grocery stores. Tentsuyu’s sweet and savory flavors perfectly complement the flavors of tempura-fried ingredients. Also, you can enhance the taste by adding grated daikon.
Eating Tempura: Tips and Etiquette
The following are some tips on how to eat tempura and etiquette to help you properly enjoy the dish:
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Lightly dip tempura in the sauce before eating but don’t soak it.
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Tempura tastes fantastic when paired with sake or green tea.
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Eat tempura soon after it’s ready. It should still be hot and fresh.
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Don’t eat tempura with your hands. Use chopsticks.
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When eating several tempura pieces in a high-end restaurant or casual eatery, start with the lighter ingredients.
Health Aspects of Tempura
Tempura can be a relatively healthy choice of fried food if you pick the right ingredients. However, it remains a fried food and contains cholesterol. Tempura also contains sodium, another nutrient that should be taken in moderation. Even vegetable tempura is rich in carbohydrates and energy. We recommend that you exercise and balance your diet by pairing tempura with highly nutritious vegetables and soups.
Finding the Best Tempura in Japan
Turn your visit to Japan into a culinary highlight by visiting one of the hundreds of restaurants that sell high-quality tempura. Tenjaku (Kyoto) is famous for its seasonal menu of delicious tempura. Tempura Yaguchi (Tokyo) uses ancient deep-frying techniques to create one of the best tempura dishes in the Kanto region. For the best tempura and wine pairings, visit Tempura Hiraishi (Osaka).
Conclusion:
The versatility of tempura makes it one of the most beloved dishes in Japanese cooking. You can simply use it to create a crunchy and buttery version of your favorite ingredient. Explore and appreciate this deep-fried delicacy in all its forms by using our cooking recipe or restaurant recommendations above.
Want a bigger taste of Japan? Explore Bokksu Boutique to see our collection of snacks, lifestyle items, and gift boxes from Japan.
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