Tempura — Japanese Light-Battered Seafood & Vegetables
Japan's art of the light fry: prawns and vegetables coated in a barely-mixed, ice-cold batter and fried briefly in hot oil until the coating is pale, lacy and shatteringly crisp — never heavy or greasy. The secret is in what you DON'T do: minimal mixing, cold batter, hot oil. Served immediately with a dipping sauce of dashi, soy and mirin (tentsuyu) and grated daikon, tempura is delicate, crisp and endlessly satisfying.
Prepare prawns (deveined, with small cuts so they stay straight) and vegetables (sweet potato, pumpkin, shiso, mushroom, pepper) cut thin. Make a dipping sauce (tentsuyu) of dashi, soy and mirin. Just before frying, make a batter by lightly stirring ice-cold water and an egg into flour — leave it lumpy and barely mixed, never beat it smooth. Dip each piece, fry in 175–180°C oil briefly until pale and crisp (not browned), drain, and serve immediately with tentsuyu and grated daikon.
- Keep the batter ice-cold and barely mixed (lumpy is good) — overmixing develops gluten and makes it heavy.
- Mix the batter only just before frying, and fry in small batches so the oil stays hot (175–180°C).
- Fry until pale and crisp, not golden-brown, and serve immediately with tentsuyu and grated daikon.
Equipment
- Deep pot or wok for frying
- Thermometer (ideal)
- Chopsticks; rack/paper
المكونات
To fry
- 8 large prawns, peeled (tails on), deveined
- Vegetables: sweet potato, pumpkin/kabocha, shiso leaves, mushrooms, green pepper
- Neutral oil (with a little sesame oil), for deep-frying
Batter
- 120 g cake or plain flour, chilled
- 200 ml ice-cold water
- 1 egg
Tentsuyu dipping sauce
- 200 ml dashi
- 3 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp mirin
- Grated daikon and ginger, to serve
الطريقة
- خطوة01
Devein the prawns and make a few small cuts along the belly so they stay straight when fried. Cut the vegetables thin. Warm the dashi, soy and mirin into a tentsuyu dipping sauce and set out with grated daikon.
- خطوة02
Heat the oil to 175–180°C (a drop of batter should sink slightly then quickly rise and sizzle). Keeping the temperature steady is key.
- خطوة03
Just before frying, beat the egg into the ice-cold water, then tip in the chilled flour and stir only a few strokes with chopsticks. Leave it lumpy and streaky — do NOT mix it smooth, or the tempura turns heavy.
- خطوة04
Dip each piece in the batter and lower into the oil. Fry in small batches (don't crowd or cool the oil) until the coating is pale, lacy and crisp, just a couple of minutes — it shouldn't brown deeply. Lift out and drain on a rack.
- خطوة05
Serve the tempura the moment it's fried, while crisp, with the tentsuyu sauce and grated daikon (stir the daikon into the sauce). Tempura waits for no one.
Make ahead
Prep ahead: devein and cut the prawns, slice the vegetables, make the tentsuyu and grate the daikon. The batter must be made fresh, cold, at the last second — and the frying done à la minute. Tempura is a cook-and-serve-now dish, ideally fried in batches as people eat.
Storage
Tempura is strictly eat-immediately — the crisp, delicate coating softens within minutes, so make only what you'll eat fresh. Leftovers can be repurposed: soften day-old tempura in tentsuyu over rice for tendon, or in a donburi. The dipping sauce keeps several days; prepped raw ingredients keep as normal.
Variations
Tendon
Pile tempura on a bowl of rice and drizzle with sweetened tentsuyu for tempura donburi (tendon).
Tempura udon/soba
Serve prawn tempura on a bowl of hot udon or soba noodles.
Vegetable / kakiage
Go all-vegetable, or make kakiage — fritters of mixed julienned vegetables and batter.
Serve with
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.
الأسئلة الشائعة
Why must tempura batter be cold and barely mixed?
Cold water and minimal mixing keep gluten from developing in the flour. Gluten is what makes a batter chewy and heavy; tempura wants the opposite — a thin, light, crisp, lacy coating. So you use ice-cold water (some even add ice cubes), stir only a few strokes leaving it lumpy, and mix it at the last second. A smooth, well-beaten batter gives doughy, greasy tempura.
What oil and temperature should I use?
A neutral oil (often with a little sesame oil for aroma), heated to about 175–180°C (350°F). Too cool and the tempura absorbs oil and turns greasy; too hot and it browns before cooking through. Use a thermometer if you can, fry in small batches so the temperature doesn't crash, and let it recover between batches.
How do I keep prawns from curling?
Make a few small shallow cuts across the inside (belly) of each peeled, deveined prawn and gently straighten it — this severs the tendons that make prawns curl as they cook, so they fry up straight and elegant. Pat them dry before battering so the coating adheres.
What is tentsuyu?
Tentsuyu is the classic tempura dipping sauce — a light blend of dashi, soy sauce and mirin, usually served warm with grated daikon (and sometimes ginger) stirred in. You dip the hot tempura into it. Alternatively, tempura is delicious with just a squeeze of lemon and a little salt (or matcha salt), which keeps the coating crisper.
Why must tempura be eaten immediately?
The whole appeal of tempura is the contrast between the crisp, delicate coating and the just-cooked interior — and that crispness fades within minutes as steam softens the batter. So it's traditionally fried in batches and eaten right away, piece by piece. Day-old tempura is best repurposed (e.g. simmered in sauce over rice as tendon) rather than reheated dry.
Cooked this? Rate it.
Real ratings from real cooks. We only show a score once enough of you have weighed in — no fabricated stars.