Tempura, battered and deep-fried foods, differs from furai or fried foods that are coated with bread crumbs. Melinda, a friend of mine, asked for an easy tempura recipe because her husband is addicted to tempura. The light and lacy tempura recipe on this site calls for two batters and it can be quite a process. This recipe is a lot simpler:

Quick and Easy Tempura

1 cup flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. garlic powder, optional
1 egg
enough iced water to make a thin batter
vegetable oil for deep frying

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder and garlic powder. Beat the egg with about ½ cup of iced water. Add to dry ingredients and mix. Add more iced water to create a thin batter. The water must be ice cold!

Dip fresh sliced green beans, carrots, onion, mushrooms, kabocha, sweet potato, fish fillets and peeled, deveined shrimp into the ice cold batter and deep fry until golden. Drain and serve with tentsuyu or tempura dipping sauce.

Tentsuyu Dipping Sauce

1 cup dashi
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. mirin
grated daikon radish
In a small pot, blend together all ingredients except for daikon radish, and bring this to a simmer over low heat. Cool slightly and serve with tempura. Add grated daikon to taste.

Note: Due to the addition of cornstarch in this batter, the tempura will stay crisper longer. Even at room temperature which makes it a nice addition to bento boxes.