Tempura Fry Batter

About This Recipe

Who knew two ingredients could come together to create a light and crispy tempura batter? The elimination of unfermented flour in this recipe means my stomach is not upset after indulging. Choose a healthy frying oil, and you will have a new, guilt-free pleasure.

What Is Tempura Batter?

Tempura fry batter is a light and airy batter used in Japanese cuisine to coat vegetables, seafood, and other ingredients before deep frying. The batter is typically very thin, which results in a more delicate coating. Tempura fry batter can be just flour and cold water, though sometimes an egg or other ingredients, such as starch, are added.

What I Love About This Recipe

This tempura fry batter is so light and beautifully crisp, it tops just about any other fry batter I have made with my discard. Not to mention how simple and incredibly versatile this recipe is - use it for: vegetables, seafood, beef, chicken - you name it!

All The "Why's"

Coating In Starch

Coating in starch serves two purposes. First, it helps pull any additional moisture from the vegetable or meat being fried. By doing this, the starch also helps the batter stick much more effectively. Starch is preferred here over flour, in order to keep the gluten content low, which aids in a crispier end result.

Cold Ingredients And Limited Mixing

If the bacteria in your starter have already completely broken down the flour in your starter (you can tell by the consistency of your starter - if it is thin and runny, it is broken down), this point is less important. That's because cold ingredients and limited mixing are measures taken to limit the development of gluten, but with a flour that has already been broken down completely, gluten is not going to reverse its way back into being. In fact, it may be preferable in this recipe to use a very broken-down starter (as long as the flavor is good, of course).

Gluten and fry batter do not mix; too much gluten and the end result becomes chewy and oily. Warm water and excessive mixing encourage gluten formation; therefore, it only makes sense that cold water limited mixing keeps gluten's development at a minimal.

Sourdough Discard

Tempura batter is made simply from flour and water - so of course it can be made with sourdough discard (which is also made from just flour and water). The sourdough discard in this recipe takes the place of flour and some of the water. Because tempura batter is typically very thin, we do need to add more water, which we will discuss in a moment. The awesome thing about this, though, is that we do not have to have any unfermented flour in this recipe: a major bonus for some.

It is important to note that with sourdough discard being the main ingredient in this batter, the result may or may not be sour. It all depends on your maintenance routine and the health of your starter. You can taste your discard (just a smidgen) before making this recipe - it'll tell you what the results might look like! I have made this recipe many times and have never had a sour outcome, while others cannot even imagine making a recipe like this because their discard is so sour. Sourness comes from the bacteria in your starter. When they overpopulate, you can taste it.

For this recipe (as I mentioned above) it may preferable to use discard that is older, thinner, and broken down. Despite older discard being more acidic, I still have never found the goods I make from it to be overly sour. If your starter is healthy and well-maintained, your discard should be just fine.

Bubbly Water

Carbonated water helps create an airy, light, and crisp batter. CO2 gases in the bubbly water expand when fried, just like CO2 in your bread dough (which is a byproduct of yeast) expands during baking. This explosion of air leads to a less-dense, light and crisp fry batter, making it the perfect choice for thinning out the sourdough discard.

Frying

You can use any preferred frying oil to fry with tempura fry batter.

It is important to note that when cold ingredients are added to the oil, the temperature drops drastically. This is why it is important to heat the oil above the desired frying temperature when making this recipe. I usually fry my vegetables and meats at 350 F (175 C), so an oil temperature of 375 F (190 C; sometimes I even go up to 400 F [205 C], though this might be a little excessive) to begin with is incredibly helpful. Ideally, the maximum amount of time the vegetable or meat is in the oil is three minutes.

The batter should not absorb too much oil during frying, or else it will become soggy and greasy, rather than crisp. Soggy, greasy batter is caused by frying at too low a temperature. Vice versa, too high a temperature will make it difficult to cook your vegetables or meat all the way through.

Last, this batter stays relatively light in color even when cooked through or cooked at high temperatures. That's because there aren't any ingredients that promote browning in the batter (i.e. sugar, milk, etc). The use of starch to help dry out the vegetables/meat also keeps the batter lighter in color. Therefore, keep this in mind and only fry until what you are frying is cooked through; do not look for the batter to turn brown.

A Fine Seasoning

Last, use a fine, rather than coarse, seasoning at the end. This will stick to the coating much better, resulting in less waste and better flavor.

📌 Quick Tip: Read the recipe in its entirety before you start cooking. This will help you understand the ingredients, steps, and timing involved, and allow you to prepare any necessary equipment or ingredients beforehand.