How to Make Tempura with a Japanese Carbon Steel Wok

FULL VIDEO: Episode #23 How to Make Tempura with a Japanese Carbon Steel Wok

You will need: Japanese carbon steel woks

Tempura is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. A layer of batter is deep-fried, but the results are different from the more familiar batter-fried fish. Tempura batter adds flavor to the vegetables and prawns. Use of a light soy sauce also gives the batter a unique taste.

Japanese chefs spend years perfecting the art of deep frying tempura. We show the basic steps of mixing the batter and deep frying as well as a few tricks, like removing the small deep-fried dots of batter to prevent a bad odor.

For deep frying tempura, carbon steel cookware is always recommended. This ensures healthy and safe cooking at high temperatures. You may also consider using a deep-frying pot with a thermometer. In the near future, we plan to share a brief article about the high safety standards of Japanese carbon steelware. 

The following is a list of ingredients in his recipes. You may refer to the video for step by step instructions. ​

Ingredients

• 2 - 3 king oyster mushrooms
• 2 - 4 prawns, green beans, pumpkin, peppers, and eggplants (Choose vegetables with little water inside.)
• 250ml ice water
• 150g cake flour
• Tempura dipping sauce (optional)

Deep-fry time varies with the type of food. These are general guidelines.

• 1 minute for mushrooms
• 1 minute for eggplant
• 2-3 minutes for pumpkin
• 1 minute for green beans
• 2 minutes for prawns 

Steps

• Cut vegetables into an appropriate size for deep-frying.
• Clean green beans as shown in the video.
• Remove the shell from the prawns. Cut the back of each prawn a few times (as shown in the video) to keep the shape straight when it cooks.
  
• Cut a few lines on the back of each eggplant to ensure the best results.
• You can dry the food with a kitchen towel.
• Mix 100g of cake flour with 250ml of ice water. Add one egg. Mix well. Be careful not to overbeat the egg. Thirty seconds is usually sufficient.
• Ice water is essential. It helps the batter adhere to the surface of the food.
  
• Put another 50g of cake flour on a plate.
• Heat enough oil in a carbon steel wok. Bring the oil to a temperature between 160 and 180 degrees.
• For cooks with less experience, we recommend using a deep fryer with a thermometer.
• Coat the food with cake flour, then dip it in the batter. A thin layer of flour is fine for the vegetables, but you may coat the prawn more generously.
• Many small dots of batter will appear during the process. Remove them as soon as possible to avoid burning them.
• Do not put too much food in the oil at any time. We suggest cooking the pieces one at a time or at least a few pieces at a time.
  
• Be sure to monitor the temperature.
• Before serving the deep-fried food, place it on a resting rack. Serving tempura with dipping sauce is optional.
• Hope you enjoy!

Additional information: 

1. Remember a reasonably heated cookware and heated oil (not overheating) are key.
2. Users will need basic cooking techniques and common sense (understanding of proper heat control, knowing how to check the food periodically, and so on).
3. Heat level, Please note that the heat levels shown below are for general reference only. Every cooktop is different. The following ranges apply if 10 is the maximum.

• Low heat: the heat level is 1-2.
• Medium low heat: the heat level is 3-4.
• Medium heat: the heat level is 5.
• Medium high heat: the heat level is 7-8.
• High heat: the heat level is 9-10.

Click here to see all Japanese carbon steel woks.

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