Tenzaru Soba: Shrimp Tempura with Cold Soba
Make Shrimp Tempura Cold Soba – or Tenzaru Soba, with me for my Mom’s Birthday this week! We made a giant tempura feast, along with vegetable tempura, karaage, and sushi to say a big thank you to my mom for all the support and love she’s given all of us this year! This crunchy, yet refreshing tempura noodle dish is an amazing summer birthday dish. Plus, 2 TEMPURA TIPS on how to fry the PERFECT shrimp!
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Celebrating Mom with Tons of Tempura!
This week is my mom’s birthday, so we decided to put together a TEMPURA FEAST! Tempura is one of her favorite foods, so we decided to make her a birthday meal of vegetable tempura, cold soba with shrimp tempura, salmon aburi sushi, and chicken karaage.
If you’ve never had Tenzaru Soba before, it’s simple cold soba with shrimp or vegetable tempura. It’s been so hot this summer, and all this fried food pairs perfectly with a cold, refreshing soba noodle. For this recipe, you can use the sauce for BOTH tempura and soba!
Do This To Get Perfect Shrimp Tempura Every Time
Have you ever wondered how Japanese restaurants make their shrimp tempera super straight? Shrimp naturally curls while cooking. To prevent that, I cut little slits along the back of each shrimp so it lays flat.
A good tempera is crunchy, crispy, and perfectly deep fried, but still light. The key to the perfect tempera is the actually TEMPERATURE! For the best tempura frying results, I use these 2 tips:
- ICE COLD soda water or beer for tempura batter
- control the oil temperature between 300 and 350 degree.
Since our batter is cold. you want the oil to keep a higher temperature, so avoid overcrowding in your pot so the oil doesn’t cool down too fast.
Shrimp Tempura Cold Soba Ingredients
Shrimp Tempura Recipe
- 1/2 – 1 lb of shrimp, tail on
- 1 cup ice cold club soda or beer
- 1 beaten egg
- 3/4 cup cake flour or all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Mix dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, and sake in a pot and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and leave to cool.
- Cut short slits on the back of the shrimp to prevent curling during frying.
- Mix corn starch, cake flour, baking powder, salt and pepper, egg, and ice cold soda water or beer until smooth.
- On the stove, ready a pot of oil for frying and heat oil to between 300 and 350 degrees.
- Cover each piece of shrimp in batter before gently dropping it into the hot oil.
- Fry for 2-3 minutes. Then, drizzle a spoonful of batter on to the shrimps in the pot for extra crunch.
- Continue frying for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown, take the tempura out of the oil onto a rack to cool and drain.
- Prepare soba noodles by adding them to boiling water. Let it cook for around 3-4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Let it rest in ice water for 30 seconds, drain and serve.
Make Your Favorite Japanese Dishes Right At Home!
Tenzaru Soba: Shrimp Tempura with Cold Soba
By Tiffy Cooks
Ingredients
- 2 servings soba noodles
- 2 cups Dashi Stock
- ½ cup Soy Sauce
- ½ cup Mirin
- 1/4 cup Sake
Shrimp Tempura
- 1/2 – 1 lb shrimp tail on
- 1 cup ice cold club soda or beer
- 1 beaten egg
- 3/4 cup cake flour or all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, and sake in a pot and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and leave to cool.
- Cut short slits on the back of the shrimp to prevent curling during frying.
- Mix corn starch, cake flour, baking powder, salt and pepper, egg, and ice cold soda water or beer until smooth.
- On the stove, ready a pot of oil for frying and heat oil to between 300 and 350 degrees.
- Cover each piece of shrimp in batter before gently dropping it into the hot oil.
- Fry for 2-3 minutes. Then, drizzle a spoonful of batter on to the shrimps in the pot for extra crunch.
- Continue frying for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown, take the tempura out of the oil onto a rack to cool and drain.
- Prepare soba noodles by adding them to boiling water. Let it cook for around 3-4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Let it rest in ice water for 30 seconds, drain and serve.
Notes
- Using ICE COLD soda water or beer for batter is the key to get perfect tempura every single time!
- for perfect tempura is to control the oil temperature between 300 and 350 degree. Since our batter is cold. you want the oil to keep a higher temperature. To do that, you can use a thermometer to test your oil, and avoid overcrowding in your pot so the oil doesn’t cool down too fast.
Wow, this recipe looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try it out this weekend. Thanks for sharing🤗!