Harusame Tempura Recipe

Harusame Tempura Recipe

(Deep-Fried Seafood Japanese Tempura Recipe)

500 g (1 lb) fillets of bream or other firm white fish

12 small to medium-size raw prawns (shrimps)

1 tablespoon Japanese soy sauce

1 tablespoon mirin or dry sherry

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup corn flour

1 or 2 egg whites, beaten until frothy

1½ cups finely snipped harusame noodles

vegetable oil for deep frying

tempura sauce or salt for dipping

Method:

Remove all bones and skin from fish fillets and cut fillets lengthways into narrow strips, then into bite-size lengths.  Shell and de-vein prawns, leaving tails on.  Marinate fish and prawns in soy, mirin and salt for 30 minutes.  Roll each piece of seafood first in corn flour, dusting off excess, then in egg white, then in harusame noodles.  The noodles should be cut with kitchen scissors, a few strands at a time, to pieces not more than 12mm (½ inch) long.  Heat oil to about 170°C and fry a few pieces at a time.  Harusame will puff and swell immediately on being immersed in the hot oil.  If it does not, it means the oil is not hot enough and the harusame will be tough and leathery instead of crisp and crackling.  Fry for half to 1 minute, and remove from oil with a slotted spoon before the color changes.  Drain on absorbent paper and serve with tempura sauce or sea salt for dipping.