Gluten Free Tempura

1.Gather all the ingredients.

2.To Make the Tempura Dipping Sauce

3.In a small saucepan, add 3 Tbsp mirin. Bring it to boil over medium-high heat to let the alcohol evaporate.

4.Once boiling, add ¾ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock) and 3 Tbsp gluten free soy sauce and bring it to boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and set aside.

5.To Prepare the Ingredients

6.Using a spoon, scoop the seeds from ⅛ kabocha squash. Without peeling the skin, cut the kabocha in half widthwise, then cut each half into ⅛-inch (3-mm) slices.

7.Cut 1 Japanese sweet potato (Satsumaimo) into ⅛-inch (3-mm) slices and soak in water to remove starch for 10 minutes.

8.After soaking for 10 minutes, pat dry with paper towel to remove the moisture.

9.Make a couple of small slits on the skin of 8 okra. This will prevent the okra from exploding while deep-frying. Also, trim the end of 8 French green beans (haricots verts). Keep the eggplant uncut for now.

10.Now it’s time to peel and devein 8 large or jumbo shrimps. See my post on How to Prepare Shrimp for Shrimp Tempura for detailed, step-by-step instructions. For tempura, we remove the last segment of shell but keep the tail tip on. Using a knife, cut along the outer edge of the shrimp’s back.

11.If you see the vein, remove and discard.

12.Optionally, you can soak the shrimp in 1–2 Tbsp sake to remove the unwanted smell.

13.Lay the shrimp on its side and cut the tip of tail diagonally (see picture on left). This will create a V shape when you open the tail (see the picture on right). Remove moisture that is trapped in the tail by scraping the tail with the knife. This will prevent oil splatter from water retained in the tail.

14.Make a couple of slits underside. Hold the shrimp with both hands and bend it backwards (belly up) until you hear “pop” sound in each segment. Straighten the shrimp as much as possible.

15.To Make the Batter

16.In a medium bowl over a kitchen scale, add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell). Then pour enough water so the egg-and-water mixture weighs 200 grams. If you don‘t have a scale, add 1 egg to a 1-cup measuring cup, whisk the egg, and add water until you have ¾ cup (180–200 ml).

17.Mix well and then add ½ cup rice flour. Whisk until you see no more lumps of rice flour. Keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to deep fry. Tip: If you like a thick tempura batter, you can increase the amount of rice flour.

18.To Deep-Fry the Tempura

19.Bring 4 cups (960 ml) vegetable oil to 340ºF (170ºC). We’ll start deep-frying from the hard ingredients because they will take a longer time to cook. Make sure to dry all the ingredients with a paper towel so that moisture won’t dilute the tempura batter. Whisk the tempura batter vigorously every time you are ready to dredge the ingredients in the tempura batter. The bubbly tempura batter will help achieve a crispy, light tempura shell around the vegetables/shrimp. Plus, the rice flour will separate from the water and stay at the bottom if you don’t whisk the mixture.

20.Coat the sweet potato slices with batter and deep-fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 3 minutes. Do not overcrowd the surface of the oil. Keep the ingredients in a single layer, without overlapping. I put 4 pieces of sweet potato in my deep fryer at a time.

21.Once they are deep-fried, shake off the excess oil and transfer to a wire rack (or a plate lined with a paper towel). Continue with the rest of the sweet potatoes. Before moving to next ingredient, ALWAYS pick up the crumbs in the oil between batches. The burnt crumbs will attach to your tempura if you don’t clean them up, and the oil will get darker once the crumbs become burnt and it leaves a bad flavor in the oil.

22.Next up, kabocha. Whisk the tempura batter first, coat the kabocha slices with the batter, and deep-fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 3 minutes.

23.Next, we’ll deep-fry the okra and green beans. Whisk the batter, coat the okra/green beans, and deep-fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 2 minutes.

24.Next, we’ll deep-fry the eggplants. Make sure the oil is kept at the desired temperature. Quickly, but carefully, cut each of the 2 Japanese or Chinese eggplants in half lengthwise. If the eggplant is long, cut each half into 2 equal size pieces. Tip: Keep the eggplant uncut until you’re ready to deep-fry because they will change the color as soon as you cut them.

25.Leaving ¾ inch (2 cm) on one end, make 5–6 slits on the skin lengthwise, like a fan shape. This is a typical preparation for eggplant tempura.

26.Whisk the batter, coat the eggplant, and deep-fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 2 minutes.

27.We use clean oil for the vegetables first, then we finish deep-frying with the seafood as seafood has more flavor. You don’t want the vegetables to have a shrimp flavor. Whisk the batter, coat the shrimp, and deep-fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 2 minutes.

28.Serve immediately with the dipping sauce and 2 inches daikon radish, grated and squeezed. You can also serve tempura with sea salt (or green tea sea salt) instead of dipping sauce.

To Store

1.For the best tasting experience (texture and flavor), tempura is highly recommended to be consumed immediately after deep frying. However, if you can’t finish everything, put it in an airtight container after tempura is cooled and store till the next day in the refrigerator. Use a toaster oven or oven to re-heat and do not use a microwave (otherwise tempura will get soggy).