Tempura Shrimp

After completing the cuisine of Rajasthani challenge for last month of "The International Food Challenge" (IFC),we  are exploring  Japan cuisine ,centralizing on Hokkaido , which is hosted by Shazia Wahid,a talented blogger who had complied a few wonderful recipes for all the members to choose from .I had decided to try a seafood dish ,Shrimp Tempura.
Hokkaido is renowned for the high quality and freshness of its seafood, as the cold waters surrounding the area are ideal for fish and sea vegetation.Thank you to both Saraswathy Tharagaram of Saras Yummy Bites and Shobana of Kitchen Secret And Snippets for introducing this challenge .IFC is a monthly event and those who are interested to join by all means click any of the hosts links and be a member !


A little bit about the geography of Hokkaido - formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectures or provinces. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city.

Tempura shrimp is often served on a bowl of rice or hot noodle dishes.There are certain ways how a crispy tempura is prepared.

A light batter is made of cold water (sometimes sparkling water is used to keep the batter light)and soft wheat flour (cake, pastry or all-purpose 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. The batter is often kept cold by adding ice, or by placing the bowl inside a larger bowl with ice in it. Overmixing the batter will result in activation of wheat gluten, which causes the flour mixture to become chewy and dough-like when fried.

There are specially formulated tempura flour  available in worldwide supermarkets. This is generally light (low-gluten) flour, and occasionally contains leaveners such as baking powder. This recipe is prepared for the food challenge purpose therefore the recipe below has been followed.

Ingredients:

• 10 large shrimps/prawns 
• Corn starch for dusting
• Oil for deep frying (vegetable oil : sesame oil = 10 : 1)
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Tempura Batter (rule is egg water:flour=1:1)
• 1 cup (240 ml) egg water (1 cold large egg (40ml) + 200 ml ice water)
• 1 cup (240 ml) cold all purpose flour
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• Note : My 1 cup = 250ml ,therefore I made with a ratio of 250ml 

Instructions:

1. In a deep fryer/wok, heat 1 1/2" (3 cm) of the oil to 356F (180C). You can check the temperature with chopsticks or with a thermometer. When you see small bubbles around chopsticks, it’s pretty much ready for deep frying.
2. Clean prawns, leave tail intact.

To make tempura batter, sift the flour into a large bowl.
Add the egg into very cold water.

              

 Whisk the egg mixture vigorously and discard the form on the surface. 

As you slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour, mix the batter but do not over mix. It's okay to leave some lumps in batter. Keep the batter cold at all times .

Dust corn starch on top of shrimps.

Coat the prawns in batter.

Deep fry until golden brown. Do not crowd the fryer with shrimps; leave at least half of the oil surface empty. 

Transfer cooked prawns tempura to a wired rack or a plate lined with a paper towel to drain excess oil. Between batches, remove the crumbs which will burn and turn the oil darker if left in the fryer.

Serve the tempura prawns with chilli sauce .

Notes

Make batter right before deep frying to avoid activation of wheat gluten.

When you put too many prawns, the oil temperature will drop quickly. Make sure to keep the right temperature for frying at all times.

For vegetarian tempura, you can use vegetables such as sweet potato, kabocha squash, lotus root, king oyster mushrooms, etc. 

Recipe Adapted:http://justonecookbook.com/recipes/shrimp-tempura/

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