Japanese Tempura Recipe

Tempura is a Japanese seafood and vegetables, deep fried dish. An influence from Portugal, this Japanese adaptation became popular in the 19th century. It can be served on the side with rice, or "donburi" style on top of a bowl of rice called ten-don, or even as a topping in ramen noodles. Besides the favorite shrimp, tempura has many various ingredients that are quickly dipped in batter and deep fried. It's dipped in a special sauce before eating, including grated daikon and ginger. My personal favorites are sweet potato, shrimp, pumpkin, and lotus root.

Serves 4-8    780 cal./serving

Ingredients:

• 8 large shrimp
• 1 squid
• 4 whiting(kisu) fillets or thin fillets of any white fish
• 3 bell peppers
• 1 sweet potato(satsuma-imo)
• 1 carrot
• 2 oz.(50g) green beans
• nori seaweed
• 1 eggplant
• 4-5 fresh shitake mushrooms or 4 fresh white mushrooms
• 7 oz.(200g) lotus root(renkon)
• 5-6 cups vegetable oil(tempura oil if available)

Alternative ingredients:

• Kabocha squash or pumpkin
• onion
• okra
• scallops
• ginger
• snow peas
• asparagus

Batter

• 2 egg beaten
• 1 cup ice water
• 2 cup all-purpose flour

Dipping Sauce

• 2 cups dashi stock
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup mirin

Preparation:

• Shrimp- Shell shrimp with tails still attached and devein. Make 3- small incisions on the underside of each shrimp to prevent curling. Gently straighten shrimp by pulling until you feel a slight give.
• Squid- Gut squid and remove thin membrane skin. Cut in half lengthwise, then into 3/4 inch(2cm) wide strips.
• Fish- Lightly rinse fillets.
• Bell Peppers- Seed and and cut into 2-3 inch, i inch wide strips
• Sweet potatoes- Wash and cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
• Carrot- Cut into 1/4 inch rounds.
• Eggplant- Quarter eggplant lengthwise. Lay cut side down and make 3 more lengthwise cuts, fan out, and cut off cap for slices. If using mini-eggplant, cut several slits lengthwise and leave cap.
• Green Beans- Tie 4-5 green beans together in the middle with some nori seaweed. Moisten strip with water and secure.
• Shitake Mushrooms- Discard the stems and make an "X" slit on the cap.
• Lotus Root(ren-kon)-  Peel and cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Place lotus root and sweet potatoes in a bowl of lightly salted water for a few minutes.

Dipping Sauce- Combine all dipping sauce ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Cool to room temperature.

Cooking:

1. Pat all ingredients with a paper towel to dry them. Arrange all ingredients close at hand before start frying.
2. Heat oil in a an for deep-frying to (350°F/180ºC). 
3. Prepare batter: Make batter just before frying, don't let it set out long. Mix egg and water first, then add flour all together. Mix lightly with a fork or chopsticks. Batter should be loosely combined and should be lumpy. 
4. Dip each ingredients quickly in the batter like a bird diving for fish. Spread ingredients out evenly in pan. Start with lotus root and sweet potato as they take the longest, then seafood, then other ingredients.
5. As soon as ingredients are cooked and crispy, remove from pan and let drip drain on a rack. Serve tempura immediately, line plates with absorbent paper and arrange decoratively.
6. Serve dipping sauce in individual small bowls. Set out grated daikon(Japanese white radish) and grated ginger. Take a little of both and mix in the sauce. Take the tempura you like, dip and eat.

Key Points to great Tempura

• Maintain a constant cooking temperature for the oil, otherwise tempura may turn out soggy. Check oil by dropping in a little batter. If it sinks halfway down and rises back up, oil is ready. When adding ingredients, temperature may go down, so add heat until it comes back up. 
• After batter has set on ingredients in the oil, pick up a piece and expose it to the air for a moment before putting it back. This will allow more air to enter and make crispier tempura.
• Occasionally, use a strainer to remove bits of batter so they don't burn.

Japanese Deep-Fried Breaded Shrimp Recipe(Ebi-fry)

This deep-fried breaded shrimp or ebi-fry(エビフライ) is a favorite in Japan. It's served with rice on the side or on top of a bowl of rice, "donburi" style. This Japanese dish definitely suits a western palette.

Serves 4    216 cal./serving













Ingredients:

• 12 medium or 8 large shrimp(prawns)
• all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• breadcrumbs
• cabbage
• tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 lemon cut into wedges
• mayonnaise, tartar sauce, or Worctershire sauce

Directions:

1. Shell shrimp with tails still attached and devein. Make 3- small incisions on the underside of each shrimp to prevent curling. Gently straighten shrimp by pulling until you feel a slight give.
2. Dip shrimp first in flour, then beaten egg, and finally breadcrumbs.
3. Heat oil in pan to medium(350°F/180ºC). Deep fry shrimp until golden brown. Remove and let drain on a rack.
4. Serve on individual plates with a mound of diced cabbage, sliced or cherry tomatoes, a lemon wedge, and choice of sauce. Or serve on top of a bowl of rice "donburi" style.

How to make Primary Bonito Stock(Ichiban Dashi) Recipe

Japanese cooking is all about the seasoning and sauces. One of the most common soup stocks is primary bonito stock or Ichiban Dashi(一番だし). Bonito is another name for shipjack tuna, in Japanese, katsuo(カツオ). The fish has a strong, salty flavor and is eaten seared or in sushi and sashimi, but more commonly, is dried and cut into thin flakes and used in seasonings.

Instant, granulated bonito stock is commonly used, but here is a simple recipe to make it yourself. Basically, it's made by cooking kelp(konbu) and bonito flakes. The stock can be used immediately in cooking, or refrigerated and used later.








Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 4 inch(10 cm) piece of kelp(Konbu)                          
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups loose bonito flakes(katsuo-bushi, hana-katsuo, kezuri-bushi)
• 1/3-1/2 oz.(10-15g) dried wakame seaweed

Directions:

1. Do not wash kelp, as the white powder contains much of the flavor. Instead, wipe both sides of kelp with a damp cloth and cut 1/2 inch(1-1/2cm) slits at 1 inch(2-1/2cm) intervals. 
2. Add cold water to a medium saucepan. When water is warm(100°F/38ºC) add kelp. Cook over medium heat and remove kelp just before water boil.
3. Add bonito flakes to kelp broth and raise heat. When broth begins to boil, remove pan from heat immediately. Skim off any foam.
4. Allow 2-3 minutes for flakes to settle to the bottom. Pour broth through a cheesecloth lined strainer to remove bonito flakes. Do not squeeze the cheesecloth. The broth should be nearly clear.

Yellowtail Teriyaki (Buri Teriyaki) Recipe

With so many kinds of fish available and eaten in Japan, buri（ぶり), with the rather unimpressive English name yellowtail, is simply one of the most delicious fish I ever had. And buri teriyaki(ぶり照り焼き) is one of the very best ways to eat this fish. It almost doesn't taste like fish, but some kind of meat. With this recipe, you could easily substitute any fatty fish, tuna steaks would be good. This recipe calls for broiling in a pan, but grilling would be equally good, if not better. If grilling the fish, make sure to repeatedly brush on the marinade sauce.

Ingredients:

4 yellowtail, salmon, or tuna steaks, about 4 oz. (115g) each
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
sweet, pink, vinegared ginger pickles (amazu-shoga), (optional)

Marinade

• 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp. mirin(sweet cooking sake)
• 2 Tbsp. sake
• 1 Tbsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves. Pour marinade over fish and refrigerate for 60 minutes, turn fish after 30 minutes.
2. Drain fish and save the marinade. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add fish and cook until lightly brown(about 2 minutes). Turn once, cover, and reduce heat to low and cook about 5 more minutes until done. Remove fish.
3. In a clean pan add marinade and bring to a boil over high heat. Add fish and cover with marinade well, then remove from pan.
4. Serve with a garnish of sweet ginger pickles or greens and a hearty spoonful of marinade over each fillet.

Eel Day In Japan: 土用の丑の日 Doyo Ushi No Hi

In Japan, there is a special day in July every year for eating eel or "unagi" in Japanese. This day is known in Japanese as      土用の丑の日 “Doyo Ushi No Hi”. “Doyo” means the end of seasons. It comes from the ancient Chinese almanac. It is a special period of 18 days before the first day of each season. There are four Doyo periods each year. In 2011, eel day is July 21st.

“Ushi” means Ox. This refers to the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig) There is a reason for the order of the animals, but that is another story. Each year has a different animal. You can check which animal sign you were born under by checking the place mat at any Chinese restaurant. However, in ancient times, not only the year, but also the days and the hours of the day were assigned these animal signs. “Ushi No Hi” means Ox day in Japanese.

Here, we are talking about the ox day within the doyo period before the start of Autumn. The day is usually about July 21st, but changes every year. By the way, in America it has become the practice of marking the first day of each season on the equinox or solstice. However, in many other cultures, this is marked on the mid-points between them. In America, the first day of Autumn is September 22nd, but in Japan, it’s August 7th.

July is a very hot month, and people eat eel to restore their vitality and stamina. The custom of eating unagi on this day dates back to the Edo period. Eel is very nutritious and is a famous stamina food. It contains vitamins A, B1, B2, D, and especially E. It is a Japanese delicacy eaten all year round, but especially in the summer and of course everyone eats it on Doyo Ushi No Hi. On that day, supermarkets and stores are stocked full of eel dishes. The eel is a freashwater river fish and is often raised on fish farms.

I’d never heard of eating eel in America, but let me tell you, it’s delicious. It is a very tender, white fish and doesn’t have a fishy taste at all. It is usually grilled and basted with a sweet soy sauce based sauce. This is Kabayaki style, and is often served on a bowl of rice. It’s one of my favorite Japanese foods. If you ever have the chance, please try it and get your stamina back.