DISH RESEARCH · Main dish
Tempura
Also known as: 天ぷら, tempura batter
Namiko Hirasawa Chen’s selected Japanese tempura fries shrimp, mushrooms and vegetables in an own chilled egg, water and plain-flour batter. Hot crisp pieces are served with an own dashi-based tentsuyu and grated daikon.
About Tempura
Research draft based on the references below. These notes describe particular recipes and presentations; ingredient connections are still being reviewed.
Chen’s tempura coats shrimp and a selection of vegetables in an egg, flour and iced-water batter. This selected Japanese platter includes king oyster mushrooms, lotus root, sweet potato, kabocha, eggplant and shiso.
The vegetables are sliced before frying, and the shrimp are peeled with their tails and last shell segments left on. Flour lightly dusts the shiso and shrimp so the batter can cling to their surfaces.
Egg and iced water are whisked together before joining sifted plain flour. The batter is mixed briefly and allowed to remain a little lumpy, giving the fried coating its light, irregular texture.
Pieces are dipped and fried in small batches, with excess batter allowed to drip away first. Sweet potato and kabocha follow at a lower oil temperature; cooked pieces drain on a rack and crumbs are removed between batches.
The tempura is served hot from the frying pot with tentsuyu. Chen makes this sweet-savoury dipping sauce from dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar, and serves grated daikon with the individual bowls of sauce.
Ingredients in Tempura
Recorded ingredient connections, rather than a complete recipe. Explore an ingredient for more detail.
- Wheat flourcoating
- Waterbinder
- Vegetable Oilcooking medium
- Seafoodprotein
- Soy Saucesauce
- Dashi stocksauce
- Eggother
- Battercoating
Ingredient connections awaiting review. Versions and preparation vary.
Origins & food traditions
Explore the countries and cooking traditions associated with this dish. These connections do not establish a single birthplace or limit where the dish is eaten today.
Associations in the cited sources
These describe source-specific cultural or geographic connections. Catalogue links may still need review.
- Countries & places
- Japan
- Cooking traditions
- Japanese
AI-generated illustration of one possible presentation. Recipes and ingredients vary; the image does not establish allergen content.