Ten-Don Recipe (Tempura Donburi)
I don’t usually like fried foods–the greasiness is sometimes overpowering and turns my stomach. However, there’s a special place in my heart for tempura donburi, also called Ten Don, which are fried vegetable and shrimp morsels placed lovingly on top of steamy hot rice, doused in tentsuyu and grated radish. Sometimes I just crave it, and on those days, the frozen shrimp in my deep freezer are perfect for this application. This tempura recipe can be used for tempura udon as well (which is why you’ll find it familiar.)
Make sure you don’t heat the oil to its smoking point, as that will discolor your tempura not to mention make it more unhealthy!
Ingredients for Tempura Donburi
- 1 egg
- 1 cup iced water
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup panko breading
- 2 quarter inch slices eggplant
- 2 quarter inch slices sweet potato
- 1 quarter inch slice of onion
- 3 shrimps, deveined and stretched
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- Enough vegetable oil to cover 2 inches of the bottom of the pot
- Bowl of hot white rice
- Tentsuyu (3:1:1 Dashi Stock:Soy sauce:Sake)
- Lemon wedge
- Grated Daikon (pureed radish can be used in place)
- Additional veggies can include string beans, shiso, broccoli, etc. Can add a poached egg if desired.
1. Heat pot of oil over medium high heat, until the oil sizzles when you drop in a few pieces of panko. Do not allow to smoke. It should just sizzle and bubble around the batter (and there should be lots of bubble but they should be tiny–if the bubbles are big, your heat is too high), taking some time to reach the golden colored stage–you don’t want the outside to burn before the inside is done. To stretch the shrimp for tempura (so it comes out straight), shell and devein the shrimp, leaving the tail on. Make diagonal cuts along the belly of the shrimp on the segments and gentle fold in the opposite direction of the shrimp’s curve. You will feel the membrane pop as it straightens.
2. In a bowl, gently beat egg, water, and flour until combined into a thin batter.
3. Coat vegetables in thin dusting of corn starch and then dip in batter. Fry in oil until golden, flipping gently if necessary, and drain on paper towel.
4. Coat shrimp in thin layer of corn starch, dip in batter, coat with panko breading and fry until golden. Drain on paper towel.
5. Mix tentsuyu with grated daikon. Arrange tempura on top of rice, pour tentsuyu radish mixture over the tempura. Serve while hot and crispy.
5. Mix tentsuyu with grated daikon. Arrange tempura on top of rice, pour tentsuyu radish mixture over the tempura. Serve while hot and crispy.
So many variations you could do with this hot and crispy tempura recipe!
