Shrimp Tempura

Image Credit : http://cookinghawaiianstyle.com/

Author: Namiko Chen

Serves: 10 pieces

Ingredients

10 large shrimps

Corn starch for dusting

Oil for deep frying (vegetable oil : sesame oil = 10 : 1)

Tempura Batter (egg + water : flour = 1 : 1)

1 cup (240 ml) egg + water (1 cold large egg (40ml) + 200 ml ice water)

1 cup (240 ml) all purpose flour

Tempura Sauce

¾ cup (200 ml) dashi (or ¾ cup water + 1 tsp. Hondashi)

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. mirin

2 tsp. sugar

2" (5 cm) daikon radish, grated and squeeze liquid out

Direction 

• To make tempura sauce, combine dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat and let it simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.
• To prepare shrimp, read step-by-step instructions with pictures on How To Prepare Shrimp for Shrimp Tempura to make shrimp straight.
• In a deep fryer, heat 1½" (3 cm) of the oil to 338-356F (170-180C). You can check the temperature with chopsticks or with a thermometer. When you see small bubbles around chopsticks, it’s pretty much ready for deep frying.
• In a deep fryer, heat 1½" (3 cm) of the oil to 338-356F (170-180C). You can check the temperature with chopsticks or with a thermometer. When you see small bubbles around chopsticks, it’s pretty much ready for deep frying.
• Add the egg into very cold water.
• Whisk the egg mixture vigorously and discard the form on the surface.
• As you slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour, mix the batter but do not over mix. It's okay to leave some lumps in batter. Keep the batter cold all the time.
• Dust corn starch on top of shrimps.
• Coat the shrimp in batter.
• Deep fry until golden brown. Do not crowd the fryer with shrimps; leave at least half of oil surface empty. Transfer cooked shrimp tempura to a wired rack or a plate lined with a paper towel to drain excess oil. Between batches, remove the crumbs which will burn and turn the oil darker if left in fryer.
• Grate the daikon and squeeze the liquid out. Serve shrimp tempura with warm tempura sauce and grated daikon.
• Notes
• Make batter right before deep frying to avoid activation of wheat gluten.
• When you put too many shrimps, the oil temperature will drop quickly. Make sure to keep the right temperature for frying at all times.
• For vegetarian tempura, you can use vegetables such as sweet potato, kabocha squash, lotus root, king oyster mushrooms, etc. Instead of regular dashi, vegetarians can use kombu dashi.

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook./http://www.justonecookbook.com/