Mrs. L.A. wants tempura for dinner tonight. OK, I’ll buy a box of batter mix. (I don’t really feel like making it from scratch.) Shrimp? No problem. I know when shrimps are done. Green beans? No worries there, either. Green beans don’t take long. Onion rings? Hm. I think I can cook those to the correct degree. White sweet potato slices? Um… I’ve only made baked. Should I parboil or microwave the slices of white sweet potato before battering them? If not, how long should they cook in the oil?
Sweet potato usually cooks a little faster than something like an Idaho. I’d still cut them pretty thin and test a piece to get the timing right. Once it floats it should be done. There’s two schools of thought on tempura oil, either use very fresh oil and your batter will cook virtually white, which makes it difficult to judge doneness, or let the oil get a little dirty so you get some brownness in the batter. I’d keep the oil under 350F, especially if you want white tempura.
I can’t help, but I gotta say, you’re a Hero!
I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook, but am afraid to ever try tempura.
I made tempura shrimp many years ago, using a boxed batter mix, and it turned out fine. I did find a ‘from-scratch’ recipe online, but I’ll try it another day. I got out the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce, so I can make the dipping sauce from scratch.
OK, apparently Mrs. L.A. thought she smelled tempura last night. That’s why she made the request.
FWIW, here is the dipping sauce recipe I plan to use, and here is the tempura recipe (for the batter) that I’ll try at a later date.
My favorite tempura’d vegie is kabocha squash. Slice it thinly and dust it with tempura flour, then dip it and fry. Leave the skin on. Yum!
I also like that thing where a bunch of different shredded vegies are fried in a clump, bound together with tempura batter. The clump soaks up the dipping sauce well.
And I gotta have grated daikon in the dipping sauce. It’s just not the same without it.
So I’m reading the instructions on the tempura batter box. I could have just used the scratch recipe.
Large shrimps, onion rings, white sweet potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, rice. The sauce linked earlier was just right. Mrs. L.A. kept making nummy sounds as she ate. I think she’s going back for seconds.
Good on ya. I never deep-fry, myself.
Made scrumptious fried chicken last night, but pan-fried it in shallow oil.
I made Balsamic Chicken Thighs last week. (Recipe in the ‘The ‘It’s The First Time I Made This’ cookery thread’ thread.) Still haven’t mastered fried chicken. But that’s for another thread. 
:eek: I just pictured Mrs. L.A. as Homer Simpson! :eek:
More like ‘Mmmmm!’ than ‘Urrrrggghhhh.’
This morning she mentioned again how good it was. I like cooking, so I like when people like what I cook. 
This thread has made me determine that I’m going to go out for tempura for lunch today. Tempura and sashimi combo, to be precise. One of my favorite meals of all time.
Isn’t it just flour and either carbonated water or plain water and baking soda? I didn’t think it was really a “recipe,” per se.
Yeah, pretty much. Flour, ice water, and sesame oil. It was one of those things like, ‘You must use ice water’ and ‘Mix to this consistency’, and I thought a boxed mix wouldn’t be so finicky. But I did have to use ice water, and I did have to mix it to the right consistency. As I said, I could have just made it from scratch. I will next time.
Oh my, fried chicken is a lifelong journey for me, not just a thread. My mother made what I considered perfect fried chicken, but I have never been able to exactly reproduce it. I have produced edible chicken using her methods, but not the perfection she accomplished. So, I experimented. My wife swears it’s actually better than my mom’s chicken was, at this point. I might concede that, but it’s not quite the same.
By comparison, tempura is a breeze. Anything that’s not already thin, you’re slicing thin. As long as your oil is at minumum frying temps (325-350, in my book), but not smoking hot, you’re doing fine as long as you pull them out when golden brown.