Prawn and Vegetable Tempura

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

20 large raw prawns
plain or tempura flour, for coating
1 and 3/4 cups tempura flour
1 and 3/4 cups iced water
2 egg yolks
oil, for deep frying
1 large zucchini, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 onion, cut into rings
Japanese soy sauce, to serve


1 Peel and de-vein the prawns, leaving the tails intact. Cut 4 incisions in the under-section of each prawn and straighten them out.

2 Coat the prawns lightly with four, leaving the tail uncoated, and shake off the excess. Ina bowl, gently mix the tempura flour, water, and egg yolks and use at once (the batter will be lumpy--don't overmix).

3 Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok to moderately hot. Working with a few at a time, dip each prawn into the batter, still leaving the tail uncoated. Fry briefly in the hot oil until lightly golden; remove from the pan an drain well on paper towels. Repeat this process with the vegetable pieces, doing about 2 to 3 pieces at a time. Serve immediately with soy sauce. Add strips of fresh ginger to the soy cause if you like.

Note: Tempura flour is available from specialty Asian shops, and makes the lightest tempura batter. Plain flour can be used but the batter will be slightly heavier.