Tempura (天ぷら) is seafood and vegetables in a light batter, deep-fried until pale, lacy and very crisp. At its best, tempura feels almost weightless. The coating is a thin veil, not a heavy crust, and it seals in the sweetness of a prawn or a slice of pumpkin. It sounds simple, but good tempura is a craft that specialists spend a lifetime perfecting.
A short history
Surprisingly, tempura began as a foreign import, and Japan then made it its own. Portuguese missionaries and traders brought frying in batter to Japan in the 16th century. The name probably comes from têmporas, the Ember Days in the Catholic calendar, when people ate fish instead of meat. In the Edo period (1603–1868), tempura became fast street food in Edo, today's Tokyo. Stalls by the bay fried it fresh, and people ate it on skewers. Later it rose to refined restaurant cooking, where a chef fries each piece to order in front of the guest.
The craft of the batter
The whole art lies in the koromo (衣), the coating. The cook mixes the batter at the last moment from cold water, flour and egg. The key is to barely stir it and leave it lumpy. Then no gluten forms, and the crust stays light and crisp, not dense. The cook keeps the oil at an exact temperature, and each piece stays in just long enough. You dip tempura in tentsuyu, a light sauce based on dashi stock with grated daikon radish, or simply in salt. Piled on a bowl of rice, it becomes tendon (天丼). On top of noodles, it becomes tempura soba or tempura udon.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
-
天ぷら: people usually write it with 天 ("heaven") plus hiragana or katakana. It is a rare case of a foreign word that got a kanji mostly for its sound.
-
揚げ物 (agemono): "fried things," the wide family of deep-fried foods. Tempura belongs to it, along with karaage, marinated fried chicken, and korokke, croquettes.