Kamaji’s Shrimp Tempura

I am a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki.  And one thing that all of his gorgeous films have in common are that they make me hungry.  The food always looks so delicious and amazing, from the simplest bacon and eggs to the gigantic food feast that could turn humans to swine.

In Spirited Away, Kamaji the boiler man eats a meal of shrimp tempura.  After seeing that, that’s what Melvin and I want, and when you see how easy it is to make tasty shrimp tempura, you will want it too!

This shrimp tempura recipe is based off of this wonderfully helpful recipe/ tutorial from Just One Cookbook.  You will need:

Kamaji’s Shrimp Tempura

• 10 large shrimp, raw
• oil (for frying)
• corn starch (for dusting the shrimp)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup ice cold water

Step 1:  Prepare your shrimp by peeling off the outer shell, leaving the last little part with the tail on the shrimp.

Step 2:  Devein the shrimp.  Let’s be honest, eating poop isn’t very appetizing.  Unless of course you’re eating the My Little Pony poop from last week’s Foodie Friday.

Step 3:  Turn the shrimp onto it’s back and make a few slices across the tummy.  This will help the shrimp to lay flat instead of being curled.

Step 4:  Dust the shrimp with corn starch and then rinse them in water.  The corn starch helps to remove some of the stinkiness from the shrimp and cleans them up.

Step 5:  Heat your oil in a frying pan.  You don’t need much, only about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of oil in the pan.  To test when your oil is hot enough for frying, you can stick chopsticks into the pan.  When little bubbles form around the chopsticks, you can begin frying.  One of the tips I learned with frying food is that you only want to fry a few pieces at a time in order to keep the oil heat high and at a consistent temperature, that way your food doesn’t soak up a lot of oil.

Step 6:  In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

Step 7:  In another bowl, beat the egg yolk and add the ice cold water to it.  You really want this water to be as cold as possible.  The colder the batter is on the shrimp, the crispier the tempura will be.  Add a couple ice cubes in there.

Step 8:  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.  Mix together lightly, leaving some clumps.  If the batter is not over mixed, this will also help you to have crispy tempura.

Step 9:  Sprinkle a little corn dust on top of your shrimp.

Step 10:  Dip your shrimp in the batter, coating fully.

Step 11:  Drop your shrimp into your oil, and fry for about 2-3 minutes.

Step 12:  Pull your shrimp out of the pan when done and place on a paper towel or wire rack.

Step 13:  Eat your lunch and then get back to keeping those soot sprites in line!  The bathhouse is busy tonight!

You will need some of these to accompany you to the bathhouse:

Spirited away print michiscribbles $13.00	Spirited Away Susuw… peludossa $16.00	Spirited Away Mouse… IndigoHeartBox $85.00	Spirited Away Bath … SweetAppleTea $8.00
Haku Custom Plush f… nightwinggalle… $200.00	No Face Shadowbox -… hatpire $40.00	No Face CheshireWood $19.00	Miniature Sushi Toy… drivemycarlye $12.00

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