Tempura is a typical Japanese dish based on seafood and / or vegetables, kneaded separately and fried in boiling oil.
recipe
Ingredients to be fried for tempura
- Fishery products: the best-known recipe - called ebi tempura - is undoubtedly the shrimp-based recipe (of various sizes). Other recipes may include the frying of: squid, scallop, crab, ayu (sweet fish), conger, catfish, white fish (cod, haddock, pollack, coley, flounder, breed, manta etc.), sharks (gattuccio, greenish, dogfish, spurdog etc.), bivalve molluscs (mussels, oysters, etc.), sea bass, sea bass, etc.
- Vegetable for tempura: also called yasai tempura, includes: bamboo shoots, bell pepper, pumpkins, carrot, eggplant, thistle, green beans, mushrooms (also shitake ), okra, onion, potato, batata, lotus root, shiso leaves etc. .
The tempura batter is made with cold water (sometimes carbonated) and white wheat flour for cakes; on the contrary, ice, eggs, baking soda, chemical yeast, starch, oil and spices are optional ingredients. The batter is mixed briefly with chopsticks (or a whisk) in small containers; it is very important that the mixture is NOT uniform and that it contains small lumps; in fact, with the help of the thermal shock of frying, these grains will determine the typical appearance and texture of Japanese tempura. This is a rather important detail that makes the difference between a good product and a poor one; not surprisingly, certain food industries provide a type of flour specifically designed for tempura which, thanks to its low gluten content, prevents the batter from becoming rubbery (due to excessive activation of the elastic protein). Generally, the tempura does not include the use of breadcrumbs outside the batter; on the other hand, the breading characterizes a completely different recipe called Furai .
Tempura fry
The tempura is fried in very hot oil (160-180 ° Celsius) and for a short time (a few seconds for the leafy vegetables and a few minutes for large sized pieces, such as kakiage pancakes).
The most commonly used frying fats today are vegetable fats, especially canola oil (obtained from appropriately selected rapeseed varieties); in the most refined Japanese restaurants certain oils of the Japanese tradition are still used today, such as sesame and tea seeds. Before cooking, the shrimps, squids and vegetables with thick skin are superficially cut to prevent them from bursting into boiling oil.
The fragments of tempura batter ( Tenkasu ) are promptly removed from the oil (by means of a slotted spoon or mi jakushi ), in order to prevent them from burning and deteriorating the cooking fat; sometimes, these residues are intended to accompany other dishes.
Nutritional Features
Tempura is a high-calorie food, rich in fat and with a lower protein and carbohydrate component. The content of these last two energy nutrients, as well as that of fiber, cholesterol, vitamins and mineral salts, depends fundamentally on the type of food that constitutes the tempura (vegetable and / or animal).
It is true that the portion of tempura "should" be very small; for example, in the case of shrimp tempura about 3-5 pieces are calculated each. However, it remains a completely inadvisable recipe in case of overweight.
A final clarification should be made on the type of fat used for frying; among all, the most advisable is certainly that of peanut. This is not a traditional Japanese oil (such as sesame or tea seeds), but boasts greater heat resistance and as such deteriorates less easily. Poor quality oils such as fractionated or hydrogenated contribute to worsen the metabolic impact of the dish which, in this case, becomes unadvisable even in case of hypercholesterolemia.
Service of the Tempura
Tempura is commonly served hot with grated daikon (a white root).
Often, in Japan, tempura is used as a decorative or accompanying ingredient, served over bowls of soba or udon . The most commonly combined sauce is tentsuyu ( dashi + mirin + shoyu ); sauces of green tea or yuzu are not rare either.
A particular type of tempura is the kakiage, in which the vegetables are cut into strips and the fishery products are processed to form small meatballs. Don buri, on the other hand, is a typical recipe that includes a bed of gohan rice on which the mixed tempura is placed.
Origins and Etymology
Contrary to what one might believe, despite being a traditional Japanese dish, the tempura has extra Japanese origins. It was introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century AD, particularly active and numerous in the city of Nagasaki (founded by the same in 1549). Originally, the tempura was a popular food, available from street vendors (yatai) since the Genroku era; today, it is still very present in Japanese food culture and is often consumed in soba dishes offered in traditional kiosks.
The term tempura comes from the word "tempora", which in Latin means "times" or "time period" (used by missionaries to refer to the Lenten period). "Quattro tempora" refers to the feast days when Catholics must abstain from eating red meat and eat only fish or vegetables.
