When making shrimp tempura, I could never get it to be straight like those served in the restaurants. They curl up almost immediately I put them to deep fry.
Internet to the rescue - I googled & this is what I came up with.
Remove the shell leaving the tail intact. You can also remove the vein but when making tempura shrimp I don't do it cos you'll see why later. Besides the vein is not harmful & you can bet when eating in restaurants, they don't remove it either.
Cut small slits across the belly of the shrimp making sure to not cut through the shrimp. If I cut the back to remove the vein then this gets a little tricky.
I usually make 4 slits even for a medium size shrimp. I used to do only 3 & it doesn't seem to work as well. More for bigger shrimps.
Next turn them around & press down lightly to straighten them up.
When done, make your tempura batter & heat up enough oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough (drop a little batter into the oil & if it comes up immediately, it's ready), dip the shrimp into the batter & deep fry.
It should come up looking nice & straight like this.
Other than serving it as a tempura dish with tempura vegetables etc , we also like to use it in sushi rolls. Which is another reason why you would want it straight.
Internet to the rescue - I googled & this is what I came up with.
Remove the shell leaving the tail intact. You can also remove the vein but when making tempura shrimp I don't do it cos you'll see why later. Besides the vein is not harmful & you can bet when eating in restaurants, they don't remove it either. Cut small slits across the belly of the shrimp making sure to not cut through the shrimp. If I cut the back to remove the vein then this gets a little tricky.
I usually make 4 slits even for a medium size shrimp. I used to do only 3 & it doesn't seem to work as well. More for bigger shrimps. 
Next turn them around & press down lightly to straighten them up.
When done, make your tempura batter & heat up enough oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough (drop a little batter into the oil & if it comes up immediately, it's ready), dip the shrimp into the batter & deep fry.
It should come up looking nice & straight like this. 
Other than serving it as a tempura dish with tempura vegetables etc , we also like to use it in sushi rolls. Which is another reason why you would want it straight.
5 comments:
Wow, that's a beautiful Japanese meal :)
Thank you S
I just made shrimp tempura and it became curly so I googled and found your blog. Thanks a lot!!! Could you also post the batter recipe as well?
Thank you for the tips on making the shrimp straight. I did find it useful. What I find works for me is to make sure that I bend the shrimp until the white fiber like string that runs through the belly breaks. By the way I was working with tiger shrimp.
what kind of batter do you use?
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