Lorraine Pascale's recipe for crispy tempura shrimp with a soy and chili dip.
For 3-4 people
Lorraine:'You will impress your guests with this dish! Shrimp are ideal, but you can also use zucchini, aubergines, peppers and all kinds of vegetables. I make my own dipping sauce for this, but chili sauce also tastes good with it.'
Shopping list
– 5 dl vegetable oil, for frying
– 100 g flour
– 100 g cornflour
– pinch of salt
– 2 tbsp baking powder
– 1,8-2 dl ice-cold sparkling water some ice cubes (not necessarily necessary, but handy) – 10 large raw shrimp, peeled but with the tail intact
For the dipping sauce
– 20 ml soy sauce
– 20 ml mirin
– ½ chilli pepper, seeds removed, chopped
– ½ garlic clove, peeled and chopped
– 5 mm piece fresh ginger (or to flavour), peeled and finely chopped
Step 1
Place some kitchen paper on a work surface and place a grid on it. I always scoop fried food on this right away so that the fat can drip through the grid onto the kitchen paper. Keep a slotted spoon or kitchen tongs to hand.
Step 2
Fill a medium, deep pan with a layer of oil (5 cm); I needed about 5 dl. Heat it over medium heat until a small piece of bread browns in the oil in 50-60 seconds.
Step 3
When the oil is almost the right temperature, mix the flour with the cornflour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the water. Mix everything together very quickly. The batter should be fairly thick and it's okay if there are still some lumps in it.
Step 4
Add 2 or 3 ice cubes. Dip a shrimp in the batter and let the excess drip off until you can see some of the shrimp through it. Carefully lower the shrimp into the hot oil; don't let them fall in to avoid splashing.
Do not fry too many shrimp at once, as this will lower the temperature of the oil and cause the shrimp to be cooked rather than fried. So fry them in small portions – more than 2 minutes per portion. The shrimps are cooked in 2-4 minutes, depending on their size.
Tempura batter is, unlike breadcrumbs for, for example, a gourmet snack, very light in color, so when it is light golden yellow, the shrimps are ready. Check this by cutting one. The flesh should be white and not transparent; now you know how long to fry the rest of the shrimp.
Step 5
Remove the tempura shrimp from the oil with a slotted spoon or kitchen tongs and place them on the grid. Fry the rest of the shrimp. You have enough batter for frying some more vegetables:delicious!
Step 6
Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Delicious as a dip with the hot shrimp.
From:Home cooking made easy, Lorraine Pascale, € 19.95
In the April issue of Santé (in stores on March 26) you will find a selection of recipes from Lorraine's second cookbook Home cooking made easy, for a sample of stress-free cooking.
