Seafood Tempura

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Tempura is wicked!

But the person who came up with this concept is even more wicked!

This person knows what we are looking for in terms of a good food experience. To come up with such a combination of flavour and texture, this person is mean!! Because Tempura is very addictive, you and your guests will want more and more and more! then some… As the saying goes, once you pop the first one, you won’t be able to stop!!

This delicious traditional Japanese dish is great to start a meal, but is wonderful for cocktails parties as well. The recipe here is for seafood, mainly fish and shrimps – it works on any kind of fish fillets. It also works for small whole fish, shrimps, squids, mussels… etc. Best of all is that this very same recipe works well with vegetables tool! Like snow peas, cauliflower, broccoli, and button mushrooms are especially good using this recipe.

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6
  • 12 large prawns, uncooked
  • 2 whitefish fillets, skinned and cut into strips
  • Small whole fish (like whitebait or smelt)
  • 2 squids, cleaned and cut into strips
  • 2 tbsp plain flour for dusting
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 240 ml iced water
  • 120g, flour
  • Vegetable oil for frying
  • 90ml soy sauce
  • Juice and finely grated rind of 2 limes
  • 60 ml dry sherry or sherry vinegar

Shell the prawns, leaving the tails intact.

Wash all the fish and shellfish and pat dry.

Dust them all with the 2 tbsp of flour and set aside.

 

Make the Batter

Beat the egg yolk and water together until well mixed.

Add flour and mix (the batter will be lumpy and will look undermixed, that’s fine).

Dip each fish into batter, shake off any excess.

Heat frying oil in a wok or deep frying pan (for perfect result heat oil to 350F-180C).

Lower in the fish pieces a few at a time and cook for 2-3 minutes. lift them out carefully and drain on kitchen towels.

TIPS for Success

  • Do not batter too many pieces of fish at a time, only coat the ones you will be frying straight away.
  • Cook only 1 kind of fish at a time.
  • If the batter seems to drain off too quickly, leave each batch of fish in the bowl of batter until you are ready to fry.
  • Place on serving platter, and serve hot with Sweet and spicy sauce or with Sherry soy sauce (In a small serving bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, lime juice and rind). Serve as a dip with the Tempera.

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