Vegetable Tempura (Light Batter and a Thickness-Time Chart)
野菜の天ぷら
https://japanese-kitchen-brothers.com/pages/recipe-vegetable-tempura-light-batter-and-a-thickness-time-chart
Cold, lumpy batter and vegetables cut to the right thickness. Every piece finishes crisp at once.
👨🍳"I used to whisk batter smooth. It fried like a donut. Lumps are the secret."
Ingredients
Serves 3Vegetables
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Sweet Sweet potato½ small (about 100 g)7 mm slices, 3 min
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Sweet Kabocha squash⅛ (about 120 g)5 mm slices, 3 min
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1halved and fanned, 1½ min
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Umami Shiitake mushrooms4stems off, 1 min
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Green beans845 seconds
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Shiso leaves6batter on one side only, 15 seconds
Batter (Local)
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All-purpose flour80 g (⅔ cup)
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Cornstarch20 g (2 tbsp)
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Sparkling water150 ml (⅔ cup)ice-cold
Batter (Authentic)
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Cake flour100 g (about 1 cup)sifted
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1
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Ice water150 ml (⅔ cup)below 10C
For frying
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Fat Neutral oilabout 1 L4 cm deep
To serve (Local)
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Salty Flaky salt and lemonto taste
To serve (Authentic)
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Umami Tentsuyu150 mlmentsuyu diluted with hot water
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4 tbsp
Taste & Texture Profile
Sparkling water and cornstarch give an extra-crisp shell. The Authentic egg batter is softer and richer.
Taste Profile
Texture Profile
Sensory Notes
Clean fried batter and roasted sweet potato.
A loud, glassy crunch on the first bite.
Pale gold crust over bright orange and purple.
Hot right off the rack. It softens after about 10 minutes.
Light egg batter, then dashi and daikon from the dip.
A soft crackle, then quiet as it meets the tentsuyu.
Lacy, almost white batter with green shiso showing.
Dip only the tip in warm tentsuyu. The rest stays crisp.
Instructions
Cut the sweet potato 7 mm thick. Cut the kabocha 5 mm thick. Fan the eggplant. Pat everything dry.
💡 Thickness sets the frying time
Batter turns crisp in about 2 to 3 minutes at 170C. Each vegetable must cook through in that time. Hard roots go thin, around 5 to 7 mm. Soft vegetables can stay whole.
Why so thin for sweet potato?
Thicker slices stay hard when the batter is done.
So you cut to match the batter, not the plate.
Heat 4 cm of oil in a pot to 170C.
Put the flour and cornstarch in a bowl. Keep the sparkling water in the fridge until the last second.
Beat the egg with ice water in a bowl. Sift the cake flour over the top.
Stir with chopsticks about 10 to 15 times. Stop while lumps and some dry flour remain.
💡 Lumps mean less gluten
Wheat flour and water form gluten when stirred. Gluten makes a chewy, bready crust. Cold water below 10C and few strokes keep it low. The lumps show you stopped in time.
Stir like you are lazy.
It looks unfinished, though.
Unfinished batter fries light. Smooth batter fries heavy.
Dust each vegetable with flour, then dip it in the batter. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Use the chart for the time.
💡 Small batches keep the oil hot
Cold battered food pulls heat from the oil. Too many pieces drop it below 150C. The batter then soaks up oil and turns greasy. Three or four pieces keep it near 170C.
Doing it in batches takes forever.
Greasy tempura takes longer to forget.
Fair. Four at a time.
Stand the pieces on a wire rack. Serve within a few minutes.
Serve with flaky salt and lemon wedges.
Serve with warm tentsuyu and grated daikon.
Did you make it?
Sign in to rateFAQ
Why is my tempura heavy and greasy?
The batter was overmixed or warm, or the oil was too cool. Keep lumps in the batter. Fry a few pieces at a time at 170C.
How long do I fry each vegetable?
Fry at 170C. Sweet potato and kabocha take 3 minutes. Eggplant takes 1½ minutes. Shiitake takes 1 minute. Green beans take 45 seconds, and shiso 15.
Can I make the batter ahead?
No. Gluten keeps forming as it sits. Mix it right before frying, in small amounts if needed.
Why dust the vegetables with flour first?
Dry flour grips the wet surface. The batter then sticks and does not slide off in the oil.
