Crispy Vegetable Tempura

Crispy Vegetable Tempura: Step by Step

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1. Put the flour and cornflour in the freezer for 20 minutes and chill a metal mixing bowl alongside.

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2. Make the tentsuyu: bring the dashi, soy sauce and mirin to a simmer, then cool. Serve with a mound of grated daikon stirred in at the table.

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3. Score the underside of each prawn in three places and press gently to straighten it — this stops them curling in the oil.

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4. Pat every ingredient bone dry and dust lightly with a little extra flour, tapping off the excess so the batter has something to cling to.

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5. Heat the oil to 180°C / 355°F. Only when it is at temperature, mix the batter: whisk the yolk into the sparkling water, then tip in the chilled flours and stir with chopsticks four or five times only. Lumps and dry pockets are correct.

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6. Dip each piece, let the excess drip off for a second, and lower it gently into the oil. Fry three or four pieces at a time for 2 to 3 minutes until pale gold and crackling — tempura should never brown deeply.

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7. Flick a few drops of batter into the oil around each piece to create the traditional lacy tenkasu fragments.

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8. Drain upright on a rack, never on paper. Serve immediately with the tentsuyu.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Things to Watch For

1. Sit the batter bowl inside a larger bowl of ice while you work; it warms up fast and warm batter goes heavy.
2. Skim the oil between batches or the burnt fragments will speckle the next round.
3. Make a fresh half-batch of batter halfway through rather than trying to keep one bowl cold for 20 minutes.

The Short Version

Gluten is the enemy of crispness, and it develops when flour meets water and agitation. Ice-cold water slows gluten formation, minimal mixing avoids developing it, and the resulting lumpy batter fries into an irregular, porous crust rather than a smooth, bready one. Sparkling water adds bubbles that expand and puff the coating further.

What to Serve It With

Cold sake or a dry Riesling · Serve with steamed rice and miso soup for a full set · Finish with green tea and a wedge of melon

Storing Leftovers

Tempura is a strictly immediate dish and loses its crispness within 15 minutes. The tentsuyu keeps 1 week refrigerated.

Common Questions

Crispy Vegetable Tempura Nutrition

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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