Fish Tempura

We like crispy crunchy food. My picky eaters tend to eat vegetables it’s cooked tempura style.

Kuya V has been requesting to have tempura packed in his bento, but I always have the issue of keeping them crispy by the time he gets to school. I read somewhere that the secret to make tempura crispy for a long time is to drain the oil as much as you can and pack it the container only when it’s in room temperature.

Fried and drained them in a colander then to a paper towel. Kuya V came home happy to report that the tempura was still a little bit crispy on some side.

Fish Tempura

Bento1505: Fish Tempura

Ingredients:

Fish Fillet (I use Cream Dory), cut in strips. Pat with paper towel to dry.
salt
pepper
five spice
tempura batter
oil

Batter

1 egg
cold water, about 3/4 or just enough to make 1 cup when mixed with the egg.
1 cup all purpose flour

Alternatively, you can use a store bought Tempura flour at your nearby Asian store. I bought this pack at Fujiya Supermarket, Oud Metha.
Sauce

1 cup dashi broth (mixture of 1 tsp dashi powder + water)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar
drop of sesame oil (optional)

Procedure:

In your deep fryer or a pan heat about 2 inches of oil.
Mix all ingredients for sauce and cook over low heat till sugar is completely dissolve.
Crack egg in a measuring cup, whisk. Add enough water to make 1 cup, mix. Strain this mixture to remove egg lumps.
Sift all purpose flour on a separate bowl.
Slowly pour egg water mixture to your flour, lumps are ok.
Coat fish in batter.
Deep fry until golden brown. Once cooked, drain oil from fish on a colander make sure you have enough space between them. When your next batch of fish are cooked transfer 1st batch to a plate lined with paper towels.
Pack in your lunchbox only when tempura is completely cold.