Recipe Index

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sake
• 4 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tsp dashi granules
• 4 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed
• 4 shiso leaves
• 1 sheet roasted nori, cut into quarters
• 2 Japanese eggplants, halved lengthways
• 4 slices kabocha squash, skin on
• 4 shishito peppers
• 2/3 cup water, chilled
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup carbonated water, chilled
• 5 1/4 oz cake flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 oz cornstarch
• 3 ice cubes
• Oil, for deep frying
• 4 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice
• Shichimi togarashi, to serve

Method

1. Chill the batter ingredients for at least 30 minutes before you start, and cook the rice in the meantime.
2. Boil the soy sauce, sake, mirin, brown sugar and dashi granules for about 3 minutes, until syrupy, then leave the sauce to cool.
3. Score the bellies of the shrimp in shallow diagonal cuts so they stay straight. Dust every piece lightly with flour.
4. Heat oil in a deep pot to 355°F to 375°F. Whisk the chilled water and egg until foamy, skim, and stir in the carbonated water. Fold in the flour and cornstarch in three additions without overmixing, and add the ice cubes.
5. Dip each ingredient in batter and fry in batches by type: shrimp, mushrooms and eggplant for 2 to 3 minutes; kabocha for 2 to 4 minutes; shiso and nori for about 30 seconds. Drain on a rack.
6. Scatter drops of the leftover batter into the oil and fry them into crisp tempura flakes; lift them out onto kitchen paper.
7. Fill deep bowls with rice, sprinkle over the tempura flakes and a drizzle of sauce, arrange the tempura on top and pour the remaining sauce over. Serve at once, with shichimi togarashi.

Prep: 15 min · Cook: 15 min · Total: 1 hour

Nutrition (per serving, where published)

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient data