I know I’ve been preaching about how healthy Japanese food is compared to American food but Japanese cooking has its dark-side too. Take tempura for example: Tempura is Japanese batter-dipped, deep-fried vegetables and/or seafood. I think it’s doubly evil not only because it’s deep fried but because it uses veggies as a lure for unsuspecting souls who seek healthy foods. I mean, c’mon, it’s got the word vegetable right in the name. How bad could it be?
I love tempura. When I go out for sushi or to an Asian restaurant that serves it, I almost always order it. I feel horribly guilty after eating it but also a profound sense of satisfaction as well. There’s something to be said for that occasional unhealthy, greasy, meal or snack that hits the spot like nothing else. Tempura at a sushi joint though, can be a bit pricey.
I decided to make tempura at home but was too lazy to make the batter from scratch. I’ve found tempura batter mix in a box at almost every Asian store I’ve been to. I used a vegan batter mix (I’m sure they didn’t mean to be vegan as the first recipe on said box was for shrimp tempura) before to see how it would fare, with satisfactory results. After making the tempura and sitting down to a meal of deep fried veggies, I will never again make tempura as long as I live.
Don’t let me dissuade you from making one of my favorite Japanese guilty pleasures at home!
This list of ingredients and directions is for people who are too busy to make everything from scratch…
INGREDIENTS:
- Tempura batter mix
- An assortment of veggies including: potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Japanese pumpkin (kabocha squash), mushrooms, green beans, lotus root, okra, Japanese eggplant (aubergine) or whatever you’re brave enough to fry
- Enough oil to fill a wok to deep fry the veggies
- Tempura dipping sauce
DIRECTIONS:
- Cut the veggies into 1/4 inch thick pieces trying to cut lengthwise of the vegetable. Make damn sure that the vegetables are dry after you cut them or you’ll have a mess when you put them in the oil.
- Mix the batter according to the box, leaving some lumps in the batter.
- Start heating the oil in a wok or pan deep enough to fry in. Make sure that the oil is 350 degrees before you begin to fry the tempura. A good way to tell if the oil is hot enough is to drop a bit of batter in the oil. If the batter rises immediately rises to the surface its ready.
- Dunk the veggies into the mix, completely covering them with the batter. If you want, you can cut the veggies into smaller pieces and have a veggie medley (AKA kakiage) by mixing them together in the tempura batter and frying them like hush puppies.
- Carefully ladle the ingredients into the hot oil using a large cooking spoon or whatever utensil of choice you like.
- Fry the harder veggies like potatoes and squash for around 10-12 min and the other, softer veggies 8 min. or till they’re all a very light golden brown. One thing I noticed when I made the tempura was that the veggies didn’t seem to change gold- brown until after I took them out of the oil…I guess they kept cooking even when they were outta the oil or that was just due to the mix we used.
- Spoon the cooked tempura onto some paper towels to absorb some of the grease.
- Serve with the sauce immediately.
The next set of ingredients is for hardcore cooks and those who don’t have access to an Asian market.
INGREDIENTS:
- An assortment of veggies including: potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Japanese pumpkin (kabocha squash), mushrooms, green beans, lotus root, okra, Japanese eggplant (aubergine) or whatever you’re brave enough to fry
- Enough oil to fill a wok enough to deep fry the veggies.
For the batter:
- 1 scant cup of ice cold water
- 1 extra large egg, well beaten
- 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 to 3 ice cubes
For the dipping sauce:
- 1 2/3 cups dashi or seafood stock
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup mirin (or substitute with 1/2 cup sake and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar)
DIRECTIONS:
- Mix the egg and water together in a bowl. Roughly fold the flour into the mix with a fork or chopsticks. DO NOT BEAT. The batter should be a bit lumpy. Add the ice cubes. Set batter aside.
- Mix the all the ingredients for the sauce together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Cut the veggies into 1/4 inch thick pieces trying to cut lengthwise of the vegetable. Make damn sure that the vegetables are dry after you cut them or you’ll have a mess when you put them in the oil.
- Start heating the oil in a wok or pan deep enough to fry in. Make sure that the oil is 350 degrees before you begin to fry the tempura. A good way to tell if the oil is hot enough is to drop a bit of batter in the oil. If the batter immediately rises to the surface its ready.
- Dunk the veggies into the mix, completely covering them with the batter. If you want, you can cut the veggies into smaller pieces and have a veggie medley by mixing them together in the tempura batter and frying them like hush puppies.
- Carefully ladle the ingredients into the hot oil using a large cooking spoon or whatever utensil of choice you like.
- Fry the harder veggies like potatoes and squash for around 10-12 min and the other, softer veggies 8-10 min. or till they’re all a very light golden brown. One thing I noticed when I made the tempura was that the veggies didn’t seem to change gold- brown until after I took them out of the oil…I guess they kept cooking even when they were outta the oil or that was just due to the mix we used.
- Spoon the cooked tempura onto some paper towels to absorb some of the grease.
- Serve with the sauce immediately.
I like eating tempura in a controlled environment where I don’t have to clean up the massive mess this leaves behind and where I don’t have the temptation to fry everything in the fridge to see what will happen. When I made this, I didn’t dry the veggies off completely and I got a lil’ careless; the result being a huge burn on my right hand which immediately blistered up.
Yet I do like tempura – just not making it at home. One of the reasons I liked making this at home was:
- I could experiment with veggies that aren’t served in restaurants.
DO NOT be tempted to fry fruit and other weird crap in the leftover oil with the leftover batter. You just end up feeling dirty and guilty and it just doesn’t seem quite right.
I didn’t like this recipe because:
- It was messy and took a long time to prepare.
- It was too tempting to fry up a lot of tempura since it did take so long to make.
- Tempura is really not all that healthy (surprise)!
- It seemed far, far too greasy when I made it at home.
- Cleanup was a bitch.
Those of you out there who are looking for the Japanese equivalent of American French fries, I hope you’ll be satisfied with tempura. It’s a good dish on occasion so I recommend trying it just once so you can draw your own conclusions.
Difficulty: Moderate
Time: Hour and a half
Ingredient Availability: Very Easy
Erm, nothing is this world is less healthy than American food except maybe cyanide-laced crude oil. But I like tempura, only the prawn ones though.
I like this post, I like reading and studying food.
I haven’t had the shrimp or seafood tempura yet tj han; it’s too pricey for my taste. I really like tempura but I hated making it.
IMO, Japanese food is “healthy” not just because of its ingredient and cooking method, but also because of the usual serving size. American plate is too big for me.
Saying “Japanese food is healthy” is quite overstated and misleading. It’s not that you can eat it as much as you want.
Tempura is nice, though I never try to make them at home.
Yes, I totally agree with you on the portions served being smaller in Japan than in America, Eirche, and I should also explain that when I say Japanese food is healthy, I’m saying that in comparison to American food. But, I also think that overall it’s healthy…For example:
In America, for the most part, our diet mainly consists of processed foods. We also have a ton of fast food restaurants and “convenience foods†in the grocery stores that usually have trans-fats or are high in sugar, corn syrup, oil, etc. The recipes we use to cook at home are getting better, but I have an old cook book that uses lard in every other recipe.
When I cook Japanese food, I’m using high nutrient foods like, sea vegetables that have a ton of iodine, rice, which is easy to digest, and a wide variety of fresh veggies. I know Japanese food uses sugar like it’s going out of style, but hey, there’s hardly ever any added fat. I’m also aware of how America is starting to rub off on Japan when it comes to processed foods and fast food (sorry Japan). Everything in moderation…
And yes, the portion sizes here in America are indeed ridiculous; who the hell really needs to drink 64 oz of anything for 59 cents?
Mmmmm. I freaking love tempura. I’ve also attempted to make tempura before on a couple of occasions. If it turns out too oily or mushy, it’s only because you didn’t have the fat at the right temperature. I can’t ever seem to get it just right though. That’s probably why they have professional tempura chefs in Japan. Apart from the temp of the fat though, I don’t think it’s too hard to make and I had to make a modified version of the batter from scratch ;p
Is there a stuy (in English) that looks at the contents of trans fats in tempura? I suspect that tempura is the number one source of trans fats in Japan. How strange that nobody is talking about it!
@Ja, that’s a darn good point about trans fats! I’m glad you brought this topic up, since I’m always babbling about how healthy Japanese cuisine is (most of it is BTW, especially if you make it yourself at home!)
I have no idea if Japanese restaraunts use trans fats in their fried foods. One good way to find out is to ask.
Trans fats are the hidden danger in many fried foods, and prepackaged foods are also a major source of these nasty oils.
Americans are slowly waking up to the perils of trans fats. In fact, New York City has outlawed the use of trans fats in restaurants and will enforce that ban in July of 2008.
For a long time I’ve thought that Japanese snacks were immune to this plague. But every now and again I’ll see a snack that uses “partially hydrogenated soybean oil”; buh-bye snack. I hope this trend doesn’t spread to any more J-snacks or my one true snack hook-up will disappear T_T///.
I know this is an old article but I’d like to point out that tempura is no where near as ‘unhealthy’ as it’s made out to be here if you follow some simple rules.
One> Don’t use a box mix. Who knows what’s in that (though a good guess would be loads of preservatives). Tempura batter is more or less just flour and water. A Google search will turn up plenty of recipes–just avoid the ones that use eggs. I make mine with little more than rice flour, a pinch of sea salt and water.
Two> Use canola oil for frying. Nothing else. Seriously.
Three> Ensure your oil is VERY HOT before you start adding items. Cooking your items in very hot oil will cook them quickly and ensure that the least amount of oil possible is actually absorbed into the batter. Your food should not be in the batter very long at all and should be placed on thick absorbent toweling afterwards.
Most people get impatient waiting for the oil to heat and start tossing stuff in WAY too soon. Remember, each time an item is added it cools the oil. You want that oil HOT so it cooks fast and doesn’t soak into the food items!
As with anything, moderation is the key. You can’t eat this sort of thing breakfast, lunch and dinner but you can certainly have it once or twice a week along with ‘healthier’ items.
@Merry, I have to say that I can only eat fried foods twice a year without feeling the guilt. And tempura especially. The way kabocha is transformed from lowly gourd into fried divinity is too tempting for me.
I agree with you on the canola oil. Olive oil, though “healthy”, is not a frying oil and has a low smoke point, while peanut oil just isn’t as good for a body as canola, though peanut oil has a high smoke point and good flavor perfect for frying.
@tj han, I agree that American food has the potential to be super unhealthy, especially fast food- that’s a given. But with a few smart substitutions, fatty, nasty foods can be made into healthy, light foods. Like making sour cream from tofu, oven-frying instead of deep-frying or using beans instead of meat.
One of the reasons I love Japanese food is because it’s so healthy. Tempura is excluded since it isn’t really Japanese. It originated in Portugal, so I can honestly say traditional Japanese foods are much healthier than American foods.
i read that it was mentioned here that olive oil is not good for frying. i wonder why…it is used in almost anything here in france. that’s what i use so i can eat tempura guilt-free. maybe it’s worth a try so you can enjoy tempura whenever you like?
Most olive oils have a low smoke point, meaning they’ll start to smoke and smell nasty at lower temperatures, resulting in greasy fried foods. One of the only olive oils that can hold up is lighter oil. I cook with extra virgin, and that stuff has a very strong flavor, unsuitable for Japanese cuisine IMO. What type do you use?
Peanut oil is a good choice for deep frying, but any fried food, regardless of oil type, still translates into calories and thus into fatness.
OMG MY GOLDFISH IS DROWNING
ME LIKE FISH CAKE. .________.
I just returned from spending 7 weeks in Japan. I ate in two modern contemporary homes in cities, a small traditional rural Japanese farmhouse, and at the home of an older middle class Japanese lady who teaches Tea Ceremony and can make sushi that looks like flowers. I ate in fast food restaurants, high class restaurants, western style chains, Genki Sushi (my favorite), old traditional izakayas, and (of course) Konbinis. I’d always heard how much healthier Japanese cooking was. Well, I beg to differ, other than portion sizes (which is a huge difference) I think that’s a western fantasy myth. Tempura’s are ubiquitous, as are sausage style hot dogs on a stick and potato korokkes, Kewpie mayo is slathered on everything, and it’s starch on starch. Rice with everything even if its potatoes, noodles at the end of every meal, and lots of salt in various forms (soy, etc.). Heck, I even saw a Korokke sandwich. Do you know how popular tonkatsu and dorias are? And this doesn’t even touch the drinking aspects. Now I may have only been in Japan 7 weeks, but musame (daughter) has been living there for over a year now, and pretty much agrees with me. The major difference I found in being there was that I exercised much more (walking and getting up and down off of tatami floors), and the smaller portions. Due to that, I did not gain weight. Have been duplicating that diet since I got back, and have gained 10 pounds. Just my $.02
I occasionally make tempura. I live in Japan, so all the ingredients are easily on hand. I always use the batter mix. I’d like to make the batter from scratch, but I can never get it to come out light enough. And while tempura is fried, I’ve always found it to at least taste far lighter than any other fried food. Still, I don’t eat it too often. I’m only cooking for one, and to use all the different vegetables I want to, I always have unused produce that goes bad in my tiny fridge before I can eat it.