National Tempura Day

Learn About National Tempura Day

On National Tempura Day, everyone is encouraged to enjoy any sort of dish that has been made with tempura batter. This is a Japanese fare, with most people delighting in delicious tempura prawns on this date!

However, there are many things that can be deep-fried in tempura batter. Seafood and vegetables are the most popular, yet there’s nothing stopping you from having tempura chicken. There are plenty of unique concoctions to come up with. Deep-fried Mars bars are popular, so what about a tempura version?

Tempura is a traditional Japanese dish. It was introduced in the 16th century by the Portuguese that were living in Nagasaki at the time. They used fritter-cooking to achieve the light batter.

The batter typically consists of soft wheat flour, for example, all-purpose flour, pastry flour, or cake flour, which is combined with iced water. Some people prefer to use sparkling water to keep the batter light.

A lot of people will also add spices, oil, starch, baking powder or baking soda, and/or eggs, especially the egg yolk. Traditionally, this batter is mixed in small batches.

Chopsticks are used to mix the batter, and it is only mixed minimally, i.e. for a few seconds. Any lumps are left in the mixture, and this – along with the cold temperature – is how the crisp and unique fluffy tempura structure is created when cooking.

Cooked tempura pieces tend to be either salted and eaten as they are or they are presented with a dipping sauce. Tentsuyu sauce is the most common sauce to enjoy with this batter.

A lot of people serve it with grated daikon, which is a mild-flavored winter radish, and they eat it straight after it has been fried. You will also find that tempura is typically found in udon soup or bowls of soba in Japan, typically in the form of a fritter, shiso leaf, or shrimp.

It is also not uncommon for tempura to be used in combination with other foods. So, if you want to cook a tempura-inspired meal for National Tempura Day, there are plenty of main dishes for you to consider.

History of National Tempura Day

Tempura is made up of either seafood or vegetables that are battered, deep-fried, and enjoyed by millions of people across the nation.

Portuguese Jesuit missionaries introduced the recipe for tempura to Japan during the sixteenth century (around 1549). It is believed that Portuguese Jesuit Tokugawa Isyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, loved tempura.

Since the Genroku era (September 1688 – March 1704) tempura was originally a very popular food that was eaten at street vendors called yatai.

Today, chefs all over the world include tempura dishes on their menus using a wide variety of different batters and ingredients including the non-traditional broccoli, zucchini, and asparagus as well as dry fruits. Some meats, usually chicken and cheeses, are known to be served tempura-style in some American restaurants.

For sushi lovers, a more recent variation of tempura sushi has the entire piece of sushi dipped in batter and tempura-fried.

The word “tempura” comes from the word “tempora”, a Latin word meaning “times”, “time period” used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days.

The idea that the word “tempura” may have been derived from the Portuguese noun tempero, meaning a condiment or seasoning of any kind, or from the verb temperar, meaning “to season” has not been substantiated.

The term “tempura” is thought to have gained popularity in southern Japan; it became widely used to refer to any sort of food prepared using hot oil, including some already existing Japanese foods.

Today, the word “tempura” is also commonly used to refer to satsuma age, a fried fish cake that is made without batter.

In Bangladesh, the blossoms of pumpkins or marrows are often deep-fried with a gram of rice flour spice mix, creating a Bengali style tempura known as kumro ful bhaja.

National Tempura Day seeks to show honor and appreciation for this unique and delicious style of cooking!