For three decades, Jane Kawasaki held onto a single newspaper clipping, a recipe for tempura batter made with beer. Batter better with beer
She used it to make shrimp, oysters, fish and vegetables and considered it the best of the many tempura batters she'd tried.
"Even the lousiest fish ... or vegetables that were bruised ... because of the batter it just made it so delicious," Kawasaki recalls.
Then she lost it. Bummer.
Attempts to locate another one for her in Japanese cookbooks failed. It finally turned up in the most obvious of places -- "Joy of Cooking."
Beer gives you a fairly dense, very flavorful batter, which is nice because you get a rather high batter-to-shrimp ratio.
"Joy" calls for flat beer, but I used mine straight out of the refrigerator and it worked fine. Plus, the bubbling and fizzing when you add it to the batter are spectacular, as far as mixing-bowl effects go. (Science lesson: Warming up beer in the microwave doesn't speed up the flattening process; it excites the bubbles even more. I tried. Don't bother.)
A word about esthetics and shrimp tempura: Devote extra time to preparing the shrimp. Peel, but leave the tail on. Devein. With the underside up, slice down the length of the shrimp, not quite all the way through. Then make three crosswise cuts on the other side of the shrimp. Flatten well. Some cooks use a small cutting board to press down on the shrimp.
An alternative is to forgo butterflying altogether and simply stick a skewer down the length of the shrimp. This keeps it from curling and gives you a nice, long fried shrimp.
To get that delicate, lacy coating like at the okazuya, remove a 1/2 cup of batter and thin it with 2 more tablespoons of water or beer. Dip your fingers into the batter and sprinkle it over the hot oil to form a lacy network. Then dip the shrimps in the regular batter and drop them onto the lacy network. When brown, you'll have to break them apart and turn to cook the other side. This takes practice.
Kawasaki says the key to her tempura making has always been getting the oil hot enough. She uses an electric wok and tests the heat by dropping in a bit of batter. If it puffs up and floats to the top immediately, the oil is ready. Most cookbooks suggest a temperature of 350-375 degrees for seafoods; 300-365 degrees for vegetables.
Muriel Kamada Miura, in "Cook Japanese Hawaiian Style," also suggests you do not overmix the batter -- leave lumps -- and keep it chilled. Coat the food thinly, she says, and work in small batches.
Shrimp Tempura
Adapted from "Joy of Cooking"
with Beer Batter1 pound large shrimp, peeled and butterfliedTo make batter: Mix together flour, salt, pepper and oil. Beat the egg yolks and add to mixture. Gradually add beer, stirring constantly. Batter will be very thick and lumpy. Cover and refrigerate 3-12 hours.
Vegetable oil for frying
Batter:
1-1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 eggs, separated
3/4 cup beerRemove from refrigerator and add two beaten egg whites. Batter should be the consistency of pancake batter. If it is too thick, add 1-2 tablespoons more beer.
Be sure to leave tails on shrimp. Dip in batter, holding by the tail. Fry in oil heated to 370 degrees until golden. Serve with dipping sauce, below. Makes about 26 shrimp.
Dipping Sauce
"Cook Japanese Hawaiian Style,"
Associated Printers, 19743 cups dashi, prepared according to package directionsCombine first three ingredients and bring to a boil. Cool. Add turnip and onion just before serving. Yields 4-6 servings.
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup grated turnip
1 tablespoon minced green onion
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Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the
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Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts,
a nutritional consulting firm.
