Tendon Tempura Rice Bowl

Ingredients

• 1½ cups Japanese short-grain or sushi rice (or any short-grain rice)
• 1½ cups water, for cooking the rice
• 6 large prawns, peeled and deveined, tails left on
• 100 g sweet potato, peeled and cut into 5 mm slices
• 1 small aubergine (about 100 g), cut into 1 cm slices, skin lightly scored
• 6 green beans, trimmed
• 120 g plain flour (maida), plus 2 tbsp for dusting
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 egg, cold
• 150 ml ice-cold water, for the batter
• 700 ml neutral oil, such as sunflower or canola, for deep frying
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 100 ml water or dashi stock, for the glaze
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs almost clear, then drain. Put it in a small saucepan with 1.5 cups water, cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Once boiling, turn the heat to its lowest and cook covered until the water is absorbed and small steam holes appear on top. Turn off the heat and leave the lid on to steam.
3. While the rice cooks, make the glaze. Simmer the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and 100 ml water or dashi in a small pan until it thickens slightly and coats a spoon. Set aside and keep warm.
4. Prepare the prawns: make three shallow cuts across the belly side of each one and press gently to straighten them so they stay flat when fried. Pat all prawns and vegetables completely dry, then toss lightly in the 2 tbsp dusting flour.
5. Beat the egg in a bowl, add the ice-cold water and stir. Tip in the flour and cornflour and mix with chopsticks for only a few strokes. The batter should be thin and lumpy, with some dry streaks left.
6. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 170–175°C. With no thermometer, drop in a little batter: it should sink briefly, then rise and sizzle without browning at once.
7. Fry the vegetables first, in two or three batches. Dip each piece in batter, let the excess drip off, and lower it into the oil. Fry until pale gold and crisp, about 3–4 minutes for sweet potato and aubergine and 2 minutes for green beans. Drain on a wire rack.
8. Fry the prawns last, 3 at a time, for about 2 minutes until the batter is light golden and the prawns are pink and curled. Skim stray batter bits from the oil between batches and drain the prawns on the rack.
9. Fluff the rice and divide it between two deep bowls. Spoon a little glaze over the rice, arrange the prawns and vegetables on top, then quickly dip or brush each piece with more glaze.
10. Scatter the spring onions and sesame seeds over the bowls and serve straight away while the tempura is still crisp.

Tips

• Keep the batter water ice cold and mix it briefly. Overmixing develops gluten and makes the coating heavy instead of light and lacy.
• Fry in small batches. Too many pieces at once lowers the oil temperature and gives greasy tempura.
• Glaze the tempura at the last moment, or just before serving, so it stays crisp on top.
• Dry the prawns and vegetables well before dusting, otherwise the batter slides off.