Feather-Light Prawn & Vegetable Tempura with Ginger Dipping Sauce

⏱ 40 min · Serves 4

Shatteringly crisp, lacy tempura is all about ice-cold batter and a light hand. Plump prawns, sweet potato and green beans fry in minutes, and the warm ginger-soy tsuyu makes every bite sing. Easier at home than you think.

Per serving: 470 kcal · 21.0g protein · 45.0g carbs · 23.0g fat

Ingredients

• 12 large raw prawns, peeled with tails on, deveined
• 1 small sweet potato (about 200g), sliced into 5mm rounds
• 100g green beans, trimmed
• 1 small aubergine, sliced into thin wedges
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 litre sunflower or rapeseed oil, for frying
• 100g plain flour
• 50g cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 large egg yolk, cold
• 250ml ice-cold sparkling water
• 2 tbsp extra plain flour, for dusting
• Flaky salt, to serve
• 200ml dashi (or light vegetable stock)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp finely grated daikon (optional)

Method

1. Make the dipping sauce: warm the dashi, soy, mirin and sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat, stir in the ginger and set aside. Serve with grated daikon on the side if using.
2. Pat the prawns very dry. Make 3 shallow cuts across the belly of each and gently straighten them so they stay long when fried.
3. Prepare all vegetables and dry them thoroughly on kitchen paper. Wet food makes soggy tempura and spitting oil.
4. Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pan to 180C. Use a thermometer, or test with a drop of batter: it should sink slightly then bounce straight back up.
5. Just before frying, whisk the egg yolk into the ice-cold sparkling water. Add the flour, cornflour and baking powder and stir only 8-10 times with chopsticks. Lumps are good; do not overmix.
6. Dust the prawns and vegetables lightly with the extra flour, shaking off the excess.
7. Fry the sweet potato first: dip in batter, let the excess drip off, and lower into the oil. Cook 2-3 minutes until pale gold and tender. Drain on a rack.
8. Fry the remaining vegetables for 1-2 minutes each, then the prawns for 2 minutes until crisp and just cooked. Fry in small batches so the oil stays hot.
9. Flick a few drops of batter into the oil beside each piece for the classic lacy tenkasu bits, if you like.
10. Drain everything on a wire rack, sprinkle with flaky salt and serve immediately with the warm ginger dipping sauce and steamed rice.