Japanese · Main · Medium
Shrimp Tempura
Feather-light battered shrimp, the Japanese art of frying. Lacy, delicate, never heavy.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Shrimp Tempura, in 5 ideas
- Do not overmix, ever. Every extra stir develops gluten and makes the coating heavy. Three or four lazy strokes with chopsticks is plenty. Lumps are your friend.
- Dry shrimp fry better. Any surface moisture turns to steam and pushes the batter off. Pat them thoroughly dry before dipping.
- Fry in small batches. Crowding drops the oil temperature and the tempura comes out greasy instead of crisp. Three or four shrimp at a time is right.
- Vegetables work too. The same batter makes incredible sweet potato, kabocha squash, shiso leaf, and mushroom tempura. Slice thin and fry the same way.
- Serve it the second it is done. Tempura has a half-life of about 5 minutes. Have the dipping sauce ready, the table set, and everyone seated before the first batch hits the oil.
What you need
Ingredients
- 1 lb large shrimp (16/20 count), peeled and deveined, tails on
- 1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup ice-cold water (with a few ice cubes)
- Vegetable oil, for frying (about 4 cups)
- For the dipping sauce: 1 cup dashi, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup mirin, warmed together
- Grated daikon radish, to serve (optional)
How to make it
Directions
- Straighten each shrimp by making 3 shallow cuts on the belly side and pressing gently until it lies flat. Pat very dry. Curled shrimp cook unevenly.
- Heat the oil to 350F in a deep heavy pot. Set a wire rack over a baking sheet nearby.
- Make the batter at the last moment: lightly beat the egg with the ice water, then dump in the sifted flour all at once. Stir 3 or 4 times with chopsticks. It should be lumpy with visible flour pockets. Lumpy is correct.
- Working in batches, hold each shrimp by the tail, dip into the batter, let the excess drip off, and lower into the oil away from you. Fry about 2 minutes until pale gold and lacy.
- Drain on the wire rack and sprinkle lightly with salt. The batter should look delicate and almost translucent in spots, not thick and bready.
- Serve immediately with the warm dipping sauce and grated daikon if using. Tempura waits for no one; it softens as it sits.
Cold batter, hot oil. This is the entire secret. Keep the batter bowl over ice if your kitchen is warm. The temperature shock is what makes it puff into that lacy, delicate shell.