Tempura

nihongo|Tempura|天ぷら|tenpura is a classic Japanese dish of deep fried battered vegetables or seafood.

Preparation

Batter and Frying

A light batter is made of cold water and wheat 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. Over-mixing the batter will result in production of wheat gluten, which causes the flour mixture to become chewy and dough-like when fried.

Specially formulated tempura flour is available in Japanese supermarkets. This is generally light (low-gluten) flour and occasionally contains leaveners such as baking powder.

Some varieties of tempura are dipped in a final coating, such as sesame seeds, before frying. Tempura generally does not use breadcrumbs in the coating. Generally fried foods which are dipped in breadcrumbs (panko) are considered to be "furai" (Japanese-invented faux western-style deep fried foods, such as tonkatsu or ebi Fried Prawn).

Thin slices or strips of vegetables or seafood are dipped in flour, then the batter, then briefly deep-fried in hot oil. Vegetable oil or canola oil are most common, however tempura was traditionally cooked using sesame oil. Many specialty shops still use sesame oil or tea seed oil, and it is thought that certain compounds in these oils help to produce light, crisp batter.

When cooking shellfish, squid, or hard-skinned watery vegetables such as bell pepper or eggplant, it is important to score the skin with a knife to prevent the ingredients from bursting during cooking. Failing to do so can lead to serious burns from splashing oil.

Oil temperature is generally between 160 and 180 degrees Celsius, depending on the ingredient. In order to preserve the natural flavour and texture of the ingredients, it is important not to overcook tempura. Cooking times range between a few seconds for delicate leaf vegetables, to several minutes for thick items or large "kaki-age" fritters.

It is important to scoop out the bits of batter (known as tenkasu) between batches of tempura, so they do not burn and leave a bad flavour in the oil. A small mesh scoop is used for this purpose. Tenkasu are often reserved as ingredients in other dishes or as a topping.

Ingredients

Common ingredients in traditional tempura include:
* Seafood: Prawn, Shrimp, squid, scallop, "anago" (conger eel), "ayu" (sweetfish), crab, and a wide variety of fish
* Vegetables: bell pepper, "kabocha" squash, eggplant, carrot, burdock, green beans, sweet potato, yam, potato, "renkon" (lotus root), shiitake mushroom, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, okra.

Nearly any food may be used so long as it does not release water into the batter before or during frying. Rice and other cereals, processed foods such as tofu, and watery foods such as cabbage and fruit are generally not used, although some versions of agedashi dofu resemble tempura.

Serving and presentation

Cooked bits of tempura are either eaten alone with dipping sauce or used to assemble other dishes. Tempura is commonly served with grated daikon and eaten hot immediately after frying. The most common sauce is tentsuyu sauce (roughly three parts dashi, one part mirin, and one part shoyu). Alternatively, tempura may be sprinkled with sea salt before eating. Mixtures of powdered green tea and salt or yuzu and salt are also used.

"Kakiage" is a type of tempura made with mixed vegetable strips, such as onion, carrot, and burdock, and sometimes including shrimp, which are deep fried as small round fritters.

Tempura is also used in combination with other foods. When served over soba (buckwheat noodles), it is called "tempura soba" or "tensoba". Tempura is also served as a donburi dish where tempura shrimp and vegetables are served over steamed rice in a bowl ("tendon") and on top of udon soup ("Tempura Udon").

History and variations

Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese [cite web|url=http://www.bento.com/re_temp.html|title=Tokyo Food Page|accessdate=2008-04-22] and Spanish missionaries and traders.cite web|url=http://www.kikkoman.com/foodforum/thejapanesetablebackissues/06.shtml|work=The World of Kikkoman|title=Tracking Down Tempura|author=Morieda, Takashi|accessdate=2007-12-13] The word "tempura" may be derived from the Portuguese noun "tempero," meaning a condiment or seasoning, or from the verb "temperar," meaning "to season." There is still today a dish in Portugal very similar to tempura called "peixinhos da horta," "garden fishies." However, the Japanese language could easily have assumed the word "tempero" as is, without changing any vowels. A far more likely explanation for the word is that it is derived from "tempora," a Latin word meaning "times", "time period" used by either Spanish or Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period ("ad tempora quadragesimae"), Fridays, and other holy days when they could not eat meat. [cite web|url = http://www.trannet.co.jp/pre_up/web_news/2007/1010.html | title = Japanese Writers' House Newsletter | date = 2007-10-10 | accessdate=2008-01-11]

It is thought that as the term "tempura" gained popularity in southern Japan, it became widely used to refer to any sort of food prepared using hot oil, including some already existing Japanese foods. Today, the word "tempura" is also commonly used to refer to satsuma age, a fried fish cake which is made without batter.

In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura are called "tenpura-ya" and range from inexpensive fast food chains to very expensive five-star restaurants. Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or a bento (lunch box), and it is also a popular ingredient in take-out or convenience store bento boxes.

Outside of Japan, tempura (particularly shrimp) is often used a filling in makizushi. A more recent variation of tempura sushi has entire pieces of sushi being dipped in batter and tempura-fried. The ingredients and styles of cooking and serving tempura vary greatly through the country, with importance being placed on using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Outside Japan, restaurants sometimes use broccoli, zucchini and asparagus. There are many non-traditional and fusion uses of tempura. Chefs over the world include tempura dishes on their menus, and a wide variety of different batters and ingredients are used. Variations include using panko or corn flour, however, the consistency is crisper using panko as opposed to tempura batter, and frying unusual ingredients such as nori slices, non-watery fruit such as banana, and ice cream.

In northern Taiwan, tempura is also known as _zh. 天婦羅 or _zh. 甜不辣 (tianbula) and can be found at night markets such as Shilin Night Market and Keelung Temple Night Market, where it is famous. The ingredients and method used for making Taiwanese tempura are completely different from Japanese tempura, and they share only the name. In southern Taiwan, however, it is known as _zh. 黒輪 or _zh. 和田 and is more the counterpart to oden. Oden is generally known as _zh. 關東煮 or "Kwantung cooking" in reference to the Kwantung (Kantō) region of Japan.

See also

* Japanese words from Portuguese
* Tonkatsu, a Japanese deep fried pork cutlet
* Pakora, an Indian food resembling tempura

References