TEMPURA - Unique Japanese fried food

Tempura is a famous fried dish in Japan, we can say this is a typical dish of the land of the rising sun. Although it was born after Sushi, Tempura brings a new aroma and flavor, so it is especially loved by Japanese.

It is believed that the Japanese learned the art of Chinese oil frying in the 7th or 8th century. At that time, cooking oil was very expensive, so almost only the temples had fried food. It was not until the 16th and 17th centuries, after European culture was introduced to Japan, that vegetable oil, an essential dish for frying, was produced in Japan. Soon, Tempura spread throughout the country, bringing a favorite dish that has both Chinese origin, European origin and especially creativity in Japanese culinary arts.

Tempura, since the late 19th century, has become a popular food in Tokyo and sold at street stalls. In Japan, the restaurant that specializes in Tempura processing is called Tempura-ya.

Tempura appears in many regular meals to luxurious banquets. The ingredients for making Japanese tempura dumplings are varied, including animals and plants such as fresh seafood: shrimp, squid, scallops, crabs, fish and vegetables: eggplant, bell pepper , potatoes, green pepper, bamboo shoots, sweet potatoes, shiitake mushrooms ...

Vegetables and seafood are washed, dried, chopped and dipped in a flour mixture with a thin layer ... At first glance, Tempura is like a Vietnamese bread crumbs but how to prepare and taste. The dish is completely different. Tempura is attractive by bright yellow color, hot, soft and fat. The food becomes more interesting because before you enjoy you will never know what is the secret hidden inside the crunchy shell.

Japanese cooking uses a lot of sea food. Some people, especially foreigners, cannot tolerate the fishy smell of fish and sea food, but they prefer fish fried in the Tempura way, because the aroma of the ingredients fried by special secrets has lost the smell. Fish fillets are placed on a bowl of rice, spread with a thin layer of marinade sauce, soy sauce and mirin, also served with buckwheat noodles. These two items are ordered in a front and back order, tendon and tempura-soba.

To make delicious Tempura, all ingredients must be freshest. The powder used to make Tempura is a koromo mixture of chicken eggs, flour, ice and some other spices. Tempura flour only needs to be mixed in a few seconds and with a small amount of flour enough for a batch of frying. The dough will always be kept cold by placing the bowl of flour in a bowl of ice water. There are also some types of Tempura also covered with a layer of sesame seeds or bread crumbs ... before being fried, creating a special flavor for Tempura.

The oil used to fry Tempura is usually vegetable or Canola oil. However, traditional tempura often uses sesame oil or some types of oil extracted from nuts. The oil temperature is usually kept at 160-180 degrees Celsius, depending on the ingredients. The product will be eye-catching, hot and delicious golden brown Tempura. So Tempura after frying will get bright yellow and crispy fried flour. Because of the variety of ingredients, Tempura brings a lot of unique flavors, can be combined with enjoying many different dishes such as Soba, Udon noodles, rice ...

Dipping sauce is also an important factor contributing to the flavor of Tempura. Normally when enjoying Japanese tempura mixed soy sauce diluted, has a cool bar helps "beat" the feeling of greasy food. You can put some chopped white radish and ginger into a bowl of stirring sauce. Dip the tempura into the sauce, enjoy immediately to the piece with the delicate crunchiness inherent. Tempura must be fried and used immediately because after only a few dozen minutes, its delicious taste will be significantly reduced.