Tendon

Tempura fried separately and brushed with sauce, the one donburi that is never simmered.

Fish, Shellfish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish, shellfish.

Ingredients

the tempura

8 large prawns
1 aubergine, in fans
4 shiitake
1 sweet potato, in rounds
120 g plain flour
30 g potato starch
1 egg yolk
250 ml iced water
oil, for deep frying

tentsuyu

200 ml dashi
60 ml soy sauce
60 ml mirin
1 tablespoon sugar

to serve

4 portions hot rice

Method

NEVER SIMMERED, WHICH IS WHAT MAKES IT THE ODD DONBURI. Oyakodon, katsudon and gyudon are all cooked IN seasoned dashi. Tempura put into liquid stops being tempura within seconds, so here the sauce is reduced separately and BRUSHED or spooned sparingly over the pieces on the rice.
ICED WATER, EGG YOLK, AND A BATTER LEFT LUMPY. Mix with chopsticks, about ten strokes, and stop while flour is still visible on the surface. A smooth batter has developed gluten and fries heavy and bready.
Keep the batter bowl sitting in iced water. Cold batter into hot oil is what makes it shatter.
Straighten the prawns: shell leaving the tail, slit the belly in three places and press flat, so they fry straight rather than curling.
Oil at 180C for prawns and 170C for vegetables. Sweet potato needs the longer, lower fry.
Dust each piece in flour before the batter, then dip, letting the excess run off.
FRY IN SMALL BATCHES AND LISTEN. The sound drops in pitch as the water leaves; when the fierce bubbling quietens, it is done. 90 seconds for prawns, 2 to 3 minutes for sweet potato.
Drain on a rack, standing up.
Tentsuyu simmered 5 minutes and reduced slightly. It should be a brushing sauce, not a soup.
Rice in the bowl, tempura arranged on top, sauce brushed over each piece and a spoonful round the edge of the rice. Eat at once.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes