Learn to make crispy and delicious Shrimp Tempura at home! In this recipe, I’ll share my secrets to a light and airy coating that doesn’t absorb oil. It’s all in the batter and deep-frying technique.
Tempura is one of the most popular and well-known Japanese dishes around the world! Besidesusing vegetables, we often useseafoodas a main ingredient.Among seafood, shrimp is definitely the most popular.
You probably see shrimp tempura at your local Japanese restaurants. In Japan, we call it ebi no tempura (海老の天ぷら) or ebiten (えび天). Ebi means shrimp and ten comes from tempura. Besides being a standalone main dish, crispy shrimp tempura is served over a rice bowl like Tendon or noodle soup like Tempura Soba and Nabeyaki Udon.
Table of Contents
- What is Shrimp Tempura?
- 5 Tips To Make Shrimp Tempura
- How Do We Keep the Shrimp Straight?
- Hanaage Technique: Crispy Crumbs on Shrimp Tempura
What is Shrimp Tempura?
Shrimp tempura are large, plump shrimp dipped in batter and deep-fried to a light and crisp-crunchytexture. It’s served with tempura dipping sauce called Tentsuyu on the side. The right deep-frying technique and a light, ice-cold batter are the secrets to an airy coating that doesn’t absorb oil.
It’s generally believed that Portuguese missionaries brought tempura-style batter to Japan in the16th centuryduring the Muromachi period (1333-1573). Tempura became popular in the early Edo period (1603–1868) as a street food among commoners. By the late Edo period and early Meiji period (1868–1912), tempura shops and restaurants began to establish this food as a specialty item in Japanese cuisine.
5 Tips To Make Shrimp Tempura
Here are some helpful tips on making tempura:
- Chill all the batter ingredients before starting. Use ice cold water and keep your all-purpose flour and egg in the fridge until mixing.
- Never overmix the tempura batter. Whisk the egg and water vigorously, but mix in the flour only until barely combined. It’s okay to leave some flour lumps.
- As soon as you make the batter, start frying.
- Keep a steady oil temperature at all times in your pot or deep-fryer.
- Don’t crowd the pot. Cover just half of the oil surface with ingredients at any one time.
How Do We Keep the Shrimp Straight?
You may notice that theshrimp tempurayou order at Japanese restaurants is very straight. How do you keep shrimp and prawns from curling up when frying? It’s easy to do with a Japanese method todevein, peel, cut slits in, and clean thisshellfish.
This extraprep timeadds to thetotal time for this dish. However, it’s time well spent for a beautiful presentation. See my simple tutorial with step-by-step photos onHow To Prepare Shrimp forShrimp Tempuraand EbiFry.
Hanaage Technique: Crispy Crumbs on Shrimp Tempura
Sometimes, when you ordershrimp tempuraat Japanese restaurants, crispy crumbs may coat the lightgolden browntempura. Typically, you will seeshrimp tempurawith extra crispy batter on noodle soup dishes or tempuraricebowldishes.
We call this cooking method hanaage (花揚げ); hana means flower and age means deep-frying. Why flower? When the chef adds the tempura batter to the hot oil, it blooms like a flower. Check out the video below to see how it’s done:
Did you see the chef dip his hand in the oil? Crazy, isn’t it?
If you go to tempura specialty restaurants in Japan, though, the tempura chefs will not serveexcessbatter on the tempura. That’s because they want you to taste the flavor of the shrimp, not only the batter.
Most Japanese home cooks don’t make the hanaage-style tempura, either. It’s more time-consuming to fry and a bit difficult to make. Simply coating with batter and deep-frying shrimpis a lot easier.
Other TempuraRecipesYou’ll Love
- Vegetable Tempura– learn to fry different kinds ofveggies
- Gluten-Free Tempura– everyone will enjoy this crispy tempura!
- Chicken Tempura– a regional dish from Oita prefecture
- Tenmusu(riceballs withshrimp tempura) – a popular Nagoya specialty
- Tentsuyu– make this dipping saucewithdashi,soy sauce,mirin, sugar, anddaikonradish
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Shrimp Tempura
4.66 from 145 votes
Learn to make crispy and delicious Shrimp Tempura at home! In this recipe, I‘ll share my secrets to a light and airy coating that doesn't absorb oil. It‘s all in the batter and deep-frying technique.
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Prep Time: 30 minutes mins
Cook Time: 15 minutes mins
Total Time: 45 minutes mins
Servings: 10 pieces
Ingredients
For the Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu)
- ¾ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock) (use standardAwase Dashi,dashi packetorpowder, orVegan Dashi)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp sugar
For the Tempura
- 10 prawns (black tiger prawns for home cooking, typically)
- 3 cups neutral oil (or use a 10-to-1 ratio of neutral oil to sesame oil)
- potato starch or cornstarch (for dusting)
For the Batter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour) (chilled; weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (chilled)
- 200 ml iced water (¾ cup + 4 tsp)
For Serving
- 2 inches daikon radish (grated and lightly squeezed of liquid)
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
Instructions
Before You Start:Gather all the ingredients.I strongly encourage you to weigh your flourin metric using akitchen scale. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
To Make the Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu)
Gather the ingredients for the tempura dipping sauce.
Combine ¾ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock), 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp mirin, and 2 tsp sugar in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside. Tip:For a quick dashi, use¾cup (180 ml) water +1tsp dashi powder.
To Prepare the Shrimp
Peel10 prawns, leaving on the tail and last shell segment (closest to the tail). Straighten the shrimp so it looks gorgeous; learn how in my post onhow to prepare shrimp. Pat dry with paper towels to completely remove any surface moisture. Any excess moisture will keep the tempura from getting crispy and make it soggy. Tip: We typically use black tiger prawns to make shrimp tempura at home. Tempura specialty restaurants in Japan use the more-expensive Japanese tiger prawns.
To Prepare the Oil
In a wok or a medium-sized pot, add 3 cups neutral oil or enough for 1½ inches (3 cm) of oil in the pot. Heat the oil to 340–350ºF (170–180ºC) and check the temperature using a thermometer. To check with wooden chopsticks, dip them in the oil; when small bubbles form around the tips, the oil is ready. Be sure to maintain the oil temperature at all times. Tip:For enhanced aroma and taste, I like to add 1 part sesame oil for every 10 parts neutral oil.
To Make the Batter
While the oil is heating up, prepare the tempura batter. We‘ll use a 1-to-1 ratio (by volume) of flour to egg + water. First, gather the batter ingredients.
Next, sift 1 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour) into a large bowl.
Add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and 200 ml iced water to a measuring cup or bowl.
Whisk the egg mixture vigorously and discard the foam on the surface.
Slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour. Mix the batter, but do not overmix; it‘s okay to leave some lumps. Keep the batter cold at all times. I store mine in the refrigerator until ready to use.Make the batter right before deep-frying to avoid activating the wheat gluten in the flour.
Dust the shrimp lightly with potato starch or cornstarch. The starch acts as a glue that helps the batter adhere to the shrimp.
Now, dip the shrimp in the batter and add them to the hot oil. Add a few shrimp pieces to the batter bowl. Pick up one piece by the tail, dip in the batter, let the excess drip off for 1–2 seconds, and very gently place in the hot oil. Continue to dip and add one piece at a time. Do not crowd the pot. Tip:When you deep-fry,do not overcrowd the potbecause the oil temperature will drop quickly and your food will absorb too much oil. Your ingredients should take upno more than about half of the oil surface areaat any one time. For more helpful hints, read my post onhow to deep-fry food.
Deep-fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Don‘t overcook the shrimp; otherwise, the texture will be tough and dry. Transfer the shrimp to a wire rack or a plate lined with a paper towel to drain the excess oil. Between batches, skim and discard the crumbs in the oil, which will burn and turn the oil darker if left in the pot.
To Serve
Peel and grate 2 inches daikon radish (I lovethis grater) and gently squeeze out some of the liquid.
Prepare 3–4 Tbsp warm tentsuyu in each individual dipping bowl with 1 Tbsp grated daikon per serving on the side. Add the grated daikon to the dipping sauce, then dip the Shrimp Tempura in the sauce to enjoy.
To Store
If you have unused dipping sauce, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 1–2 weeks.
You can keep the leftovers in a single layer between paper towels and put in an airtight container or a resealable plastic bag. Store in the freezer for 2 weeks. To reheat, place the tempura on a wire rack in the preheated oven (400ºF or 200ºC) or the toaster oven for 5 minutes or until crisp on the outside and heated through on the inside.
Nutrition
Calories: 82 kcal · Carbohydrates: 5 g · Protein: 2 g · Fat: 6 g · Saturated Fat: 5 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 21 mg · Sodium: 102 mg · Potassium: 15 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 1 g · Vitamin A: 19 IU · Vitamin C: 1 mg · Calcium: 10 mg · Iron: 1 mg
Author: Namiko Chen
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: shrimp, tempura
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Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on July 6, 2011. The images and the recipe have been updated in November 2013.
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