Tempura

History

Origins

Earlier Japanese deep-fried food was either simply fried without breading or batter or fried with rice flour. However, toward the end of the 16th century, the technique of fritter-cooking with a batter of flour and eggs was acquired in Nagasaki from Portuguese missionaries. Peixinhos da horta was a dish often eaten during Lent or Ember days to fulfill the fasting and abstinence rules for Catholics. The word "tempura" originates from the Latin word tempora, a term referring to these fasting times (Spanish: Témporas). In those days, the ingredients were covered in thick batter containing flour, sugar and sake, and then fried in lard. As the batter already contained seasoning, it was eaten without dipping sauce.

In the early 17th century, around the Tokyo Bay area, tempura ingredients and preparation changed as the yatai (food cart) culture gained popularity. Making the best use of fresh seafood while preserving its delicate taste, tempura used only flour, eggs, and water as ingredients, and the batter was not flavored. As the batter was mixed minimally in cold water, it avoided the dough-like stickiness caused by the activation of wheat gluten, resulting in the crispy texture now characteristic of tempura. It became customary to dip tempura quickly in a sauce mixed with grated daikon just before eating it.

Today in Japan, mainstream tempura recipes originate from "Tokyo-style" (also known as “Edo-style“) tempura, invented at the food stalls along the riverside fish market in the Edo period. Tempura became popular largely due to the abundance of seafood. In addition, as oil extraction techniques advanced, cooking oil became cheaper. Serving deep-fried food indoors was prohibited during Edo because tempura oil was a fire hazard in Japanese buildings, which were made of paper and wood. Therefore, tempura gained popularity as fast food eaten at outdoor food stalls. It was skewered and eaten with a dipping sauce. Tempura is considered one of "the Edo Delicacies" along with soba (buckwheat noodles) and sushi, which were also food stall take-outs.

The modern tempura recipe was first published in 1671 in the cookbook called "料理献立抄". After the Meiji period, tempura was no longer considered a fast-food item but developed as a high-class cuisine.

Etymology

The word "tempura", or the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them, comes from the word tempora, a Latin word meaning "times", "time period" used by Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days (ad tempora quadragesima), Fridays, and other Christian holy days. Ember Days, or quatuor anni tempora in Latin, refer to holy days when Catholics avoid meat and eat fish or vegetables instead. 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" is also possible as the Japanese language could easily have assumed the word tempero as is, without changing any vowels as the Portuguese pronunciation, in this case, is similar to the Japanese. There is still today a dish in Portugal very similar to tempura called peixinhos da horta, "garden fishes", which consists of green beans dipped in a batter and fried.

The term "tempura" is thought to have gained popularity in southern Japan; it became widely used to refer to any food prepared using hot oil, including some already existing Japanese foods. Today, particularly in western Japan, the word "tempura" is also commonly used to refer to satsuma-age, fried surimi fish cake which is made without batter.

Variations

Japan

In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura are called tenpura-ya. Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or a bento (lunch box), and it is also a popular ingredient in take-out or convenience store bento boxes. The ingredients and styles of cooking and serving tempura vary greatly throughout the country, with importance placed on using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Outside Japan

Outside Japan (as well as recently in Japan), there are many nontraditional and fusion uses of tempura. Chefs all over the world include tempura dishes on their menus, and a wide variety of different batters and ingredients are used, including nontraditional broccoli, zucchini, asparagus and chuchu. More unusual ingredients may include nori slices, dry fruit such as bananas, and ice cream (tempura-based fried ice cream). American restaurants are known to serve tempura in the form of various types of meat, particularly chicken and cheeses, usually mozzarella. A variation is to use panko (breadcrumbs), which results in a crisper consistency than tempura batter, although in Japan this would be classified as a furai dish. Tempura (particularly shrimp) is often used as a filling in makizushi. A more recent variation of tempura sushi has entire pieces of sushi dipped in batter and tempura-fried.

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.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, tempura, as described in the preceding, is known as tiānfùluó (天婦羅) and can commonly be found on the menu in Japanese restaurants all over the island. A similar-sounding dish, tianbula (Chinese: 甜不辣; pinyin: tiánbùlà; lit. 'sweet', 'not spicy') is usually sold at night markets. Tianbula is Japanese satsuma-age and was introduced to Taiwan under Japanese rule by people from Kyushu, where satsuma-age is commonly known as tempura.