Japanese Appetizer
SHRIMP TEMPURA
2½ cups vegetable oil (or enough to cover shrimp)
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 cup ice-cold water
1 pound shrimp, 21-30 count, peeled, deveined, with tails left on*
* = Don’t worry if you removed the tails. This dish will taste as good. You’ll need forks; it will be hot.
SPECIAL UTENSILS Oops, I removed the tails. I was distracted
deep fryer or electric skillet by earthquakes and T-Rexes.
Bushnell 303 Hand Held Time MachineTM.
Serves 6. Takes 30 minutes.
PREPARATION
Add oil to deep fryer. (Make sure there is enough to cover shrimp.) Preheat oil to 375 degrees. While oil heats, add flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt to large mixing bowl. Beat egg yolk in small bowl with whisk. Add beaten egg yolk and ice-cold water to large mixing bowl. Mix with fork until combined mixture turns to batter and is still slightly lumpy. Dredge shrimp though batter until completely coated. Don’t batter shrimp tails.
Add shrimp to deep fryer. Don’t let the shrimp touch each other. Fry shrimp at 375 degrees for 1½-to-2 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Repeat for successive batches.
TIDBITS
1) So many recipes tell you to preheat. What if you don’t have time to preheat? What if your sweetie is coming over? What if you see monstrous, rolling earthquakes just outside your window and you had wanted to make something special for him on his birthday, probably the last one by the looks of it? Simply use your Bushnell 303 Hand Held Time MachineTM to travel back in time and preheat your oven. How far back? As far as the Cretaceous Period if you like**.
2) ** = Be sure to look out for carnivorous dinosaurs. Also, hold onto your oven when you time travel. Otherwise, it won’t go with you and you’ll will have risked by eaten by a T-Rex for nothing. And then, won’t you feel foolish? Oh, and your electric bill will be high.
Chef Paul
My cookbook, Eat Me: 169 Fun Recipes From All Over the World, and my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, are available in paperback or Kindle on amazon.com
The cookbook is also available as an e-book on Nook
or on my website-where you can get a signed copy at: www.lordsoffun.com
Damn! As I read this post, it’s time for dinner and I’m hungry. I have no shrimp tempura in the house, and you have given me a yen for it (pun intended). I don’t have any shrimp in the house, either.
In addition to that, I am not an enthusiastic cook. I REALLY have to be in the mood, and I haven’t been in that kind of mood for years.
Paul, you are dangerous! 😀 😉
BTW, I mistakenly gave you the wrong link for my blog before. It is actually kminicozzzi.blogspot.com . Somehow, an extra “z” was put in there.
Heh, heh. I live for danger.