28/03/2013

Japanese: Tempura

Today we'll cook one of the most popular Japanese recipes: the tempura, a very crispy and light dish, usually prepared with vegetables and fish. To make a good tempura you need ice cold sparkling water, a large wok and very hot oil for frying. 

Ingredients

  •  less than 1 cup (200 ml) of ice cold sparkling water
  •  less than 1 cup (100 g) of flour
  •  1 yolk (The ingredients to be fried are) For frying:
  •  12 prawn tails
  •  4 field mushrooms (champignons)
  •  1 carrot / 2 zucchini
  • while for frying, we'll use vegetable oil
Directions

Begin by washing all the vegetables: with regard to the carrots, cut them into strips, about 1/10 inch (3 mm) thick; with regard to the mushrooms, cut them into slices, perhaps keeping the mushroom shape, since it's pleasant to see; then cut the zucchini into strips as well, but remove the white part, so trim the ends off... cut the zucchini in half... then into quarters, in this way... remove the white part and keep only the green one... that you'll further cut into halves, so you'll get the right strips, and proceed in this way until you've run out of vegetables.


Now move on to the prawns: first of all, remove the shell and the legs, but leave the tail on. Then, with a toothpick, remove this black string that is the intestine, since it's quite bitter to eat. Go on this way until you've cleaned all the prawns.


Now let's prepare the batter, that must always be cold, so put some ice and water in a large bowl, and place another bowl on top, better if made of stainless steel. Now add 1 yolk... break it gently, add the ice cold sparkling water, and mix. Now add the flour, but do not over-mix or it will become chewy; even if it's a little bit lumpy, don't worry.


After making the batter, let's move on to frying: the difference between the Japanese and the Chinese batter is that the Japanese batter lightly coats the ingredients, and it's not as thick as the Chinese one. Let's take for example a prawn, dip into the batter, quickly shake off the excess batter, and fry. Do not let it turn too dark, but golden brown. Finally, do not fry too many pieces at a time in the wok, but just 2 or 3.


Now take them out, let them drain on kitchen paper... and go on frying.
After frying, serve the tempura still hot, perhaps accompanied by the special sauce, or with the traditional soy sauce. 








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