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Preparation
Batter and frying
A light batter is made of cold water and wheat flour. Eggs, baking soda or baking powder, starch, oil, and/or spices may also be added. Tempura batter is traditionally mixed in small batches using chopsticks for only a few seconds, leaving lumps in the mixture that along with the cold batter temperature result in the unique fluffy and crisp tempura structure when cooked. Thin slices or strips of vegetables or seafood are dipped in flour, then the batter or panko, then briefly deep-fried in hot oil.
Ingredients
Common ingredients in traditional tempura include:
- Seafood: Prawn, Shrimp, squid, scallop, anago (conger eel), ayu (sweetfish), crab, and a wide variety of fish
- Vegetables: bell pepper, kabocha squash, eggplant, carrot, burdock, green beans, sweet potato, yam, potato, renkon (lotus root), shiitake mushroom, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, okra.
Nearly any food may be used so long as it does not release water into the batter before or during frying. Rice and other cereals, processed foods such as tofu, and watery foods such as cabbage and fruit are generally not used, although some versions of agedashi dofu resemble tempura.
Serving and presentation
Cooked bits of tempura are either eaten alone with dipping sauce or used to assemble other dishes. Tempura is commonly served with grated daikon and eaten hot immediately after frying. The most common sauce is tentsuyu sauce (roughly three parts dashi, one part mirin, and one part shoyu). Alternatively, tempura may be sprinkled with sea salt before eating. Mixtures of powdered green tea and salt or yuzu and salt are also used.
Kakiage is a type of tempura made with mixed vegetable strips, such as onion, carrot, and burdock, and sometimes including shrimp, which are deep fried as small round fritters.
Tempura is also used in combination with other foods. When served over soba (buckwheat noodles), it is called tempura soba or tensoba. Tempura is also served as a donburi dish where tempura shrimp and vegetables are served over steamed rice in a bowl (tendon) and on top of udon soup (Tempura Udon).
History and variations
Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese[1] and Spanish missionaries and traders.[2] The word tempura may be derived from the Portuguese noun tempero, meaning a condiment or seasoning, or from the verb temperar, meaning "to season".[2] There is still today a dish in Portugal very similar to tempura called peixinhos da horta, "garden fishies". An alternative explanation for the word is that it is derived from 'tempora', a Latin word meaning "times", "time period" used by either Spanish or Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period (ad tempora quadragesimae) where they could not eat meat.[3]
In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura are called tenpura-ya and range from inexpensive fast food chains to very expensive five-star restaurants. Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or a bento (lunch box).
Outside Japan restaurants sometimes use broccoli, zucchini and asparagus. There are many non-traditional and fusion uses of tempura. Chefs over the world include tempura dishes on their menus, and a wide variety of different batters and ingredients are used. Variations include using panko or corn flour, however, the consistency is crisper using panko as opposed to tempura batter. and frying unusual ingredients such as nori slices, non-watery fruit such as banana, and ice cream.
In northern Taiwan, tempura is also known as 天婦羅 or 甜不辣 (tianbula) and can be found at night markets such as Shilin Night Market and Keelung Temple Night Market, where it is famous. The ingredients and method used for making Taiwanese tempura are completely different from Japanese tempura, and they share only the name. In southern Taiwan, however, it is known as 黒輪 or 和田 and is more the counterpart to oden. Oden is generally known as 關東煮 or "Kwantung cooking" in reference to the Kwantung (Kantō) region of Japan.
See also
- Japanese words from Portuguese
- Tonkatsu, a Japanese deep fried pork cutlet
- Pakora, an Indian food resembling tempura
References
- ^ Tokyo Food Page. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.
- ^ a b Morieda, Takashi. Tracking Down Tempura. The World of Kikkoman. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ Japanese Writers' House Newsletter (2007-10-10). Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
External links
