Tempura (Japanese Fritters)

Hello my friends,

I just finished the live on Facebook and I’m rushing on the blog to start writing down the recipe. Those who have cooked the tempura with me won’t say the opposite: it’s delicious!

So let’s go to Japan and make tempura (Japanase fritters).

As I explained during the live, those tempura are a great alternative to our traditional French fritters as my zucchini flower fritters for instance.

Let’s see:

– the fritter batter is much lighter, and thiner after frying.

– it requires just a few ingredients

– and can easily be gluten free: you can make a mix with rice flour and corn starch for example.

Then you can make the tempura with almost whatever you like: shrimps (the tradition in Japan), any kind of veggies (courgette, eggplant, carrot, sweet potato, cauliflower, brocoli, onion, red pepper, parsnip, zucchini flower…) or herbs (coriander, chive, sage or even nettle).

This tempura batter will be great too with thinly sliced chicken fillets, fish (white if possible like cod) or seafood (cuttlefish for example). This is the key here: your ingredients should be cut very thin, Japanese style! 😉

A bit of history (thank you Wikipedia!) …

The tempura dish was introduced by the Portuguese residing in Nagasaki through the fritter-cooking techniques in the 16th century. The name “tempura” originates from the Latin phrase quatuor anni tempora, which refers to the Ember Days, during which no meat is consumed. The Japanese made the batter lighter and changed the fillings.

From the 17th to the 19th century, people had tempura as snacks in stalls. During the Meiji area (second half of 19th century) restaurants specialized in tempura appeared.

Back to our recipe with the mandatory utensils:

A large bowl,

A whisk

And a sauté pan or a frying machine.

The tempura a generaly served with a sauce made with dashi, mirin and soy sauce, or just salt. I chose to make a sauce with Greek yogurt.

Shall we?

The recipe, Chef!

Print Recipe

Tempura (Japanese Fritters)

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Serves: 30-40 pces Difficulty: Super Easy Price: $

Prep Time: 5 min – Cooking Time: 1 or 2 min

Ingredients

• 50 g flour (for the tempura batter)
• 50 g corn starch (for the tempura batter)
• 1 egg (for the tempura batter)
• 100 g sparkling water (for the tempura batter)
• 150 g Greek yogurt (for the sauce)
• 1 garlic clove (for the sauce)
• 1 teaspoon tahini or mustard (for the sauce)
• 3 chive stalks (for the sauce)
• Vegetables, shrimps, etc ...
• Frying oil (sesame, rapeseed, sunflower)
• Flower salt

Instructions

1

Beat the egg and add the water. Mix.

2

Add the flour, corn starch and a pinch of flower salt, mix.

3

Heat the oil at 170 degrees.

4

In the meantime, prepare the veggies, shrimps, etc...

5

Mix the Greek yogurt, grated garlic and tahini. Add the chopped chive. Set aside in your fridge.

6

When the oil is a the right temperature, soak your fillings in the tempura batter and plunge into the oil for 1 or 2 minutes maximum.

7

Remove from the oil bath and place on absorbing paper.

8

Serve right away with the sauce and flower salt.