Tempura Prawns (Dairy Free, Grain & Gluten Free, Sugar Free)

I generally make tempura prawns using probably gluten laden corn flour and last made it years ago during a birthday celebration for my late father-in-law.  This was a memorable meal that the family raved about for years, and probably still do.  Sadly three of those elder family members have crossed over but I think of them with love and pride, each time I see or think Tempura batter. 

I thought about using arrowroot powder after using it as a thickening agent recently.  It works well to create a perfect tempura batter.  You can tempura just about anything. For this recipe, I used a few  jumbo prawns only however, the batter goes a long way, so be prepared to have plenty of ingredients especially vegetable, ready to use.

Tempura batter must be kept cold during the cooking process. Popping it in the fridge in between batches works, but expect that the arrowroot powder will settle to the bottom of the dish each time. You’ll have to give it a good mix with every round. It will thin out immediately once it’s stirred back up without adding any additional liquid. Ideally, you should work with an ice bath which is basically ice in a bowl larger that the bowl the tempura batter is made in, placing the batter bowl inside it.  I opted to make this meal today, when the weather's much colder inside and kitchen tops feel icy - the batter stayed at the same consistency. 



Ingredients

2 cups arrowroot powder
3/4 cup soda water
1 egg
Up to 500g de-veined prawns, shells and tailed removed
Coconut oil for frying
Sea salt or Himalayan salt for finishing

Here's How


Prepare the prawns first. Thaw, if frozen. Remove the shells, tails and devein, if needed. Set them out on kitchen paper towel to dry before battering and frying.

Mix the batter together, in no particular order, although beating the egg first would be a good start!

You can either choose a thick-bottomed pot or a pan with high-sides. The temperature needs to be kept between medium and medium-high. Preheat your preferred pan and melt enough coconut oil to fill it about less than 1cm high.

Once the pan is hot, the coconut oil is melted  and the prawns are prepared (as well as any vegetables you’d like to tempura as well), begin the frying process.

Dredge a dry prawn into freshly mixed batter. Let excess batter drain off, then quickly transfer to the hot coconut oil. Fry for a couple minutes on each side—until the batter has cooked evenly. Arrowroot-based batter will be gummy until fully cooked. You know it is cooked when it’s just barely golden brown and there are no uncooked parts. In fact, this is one of the reasons why draining off excess is important. Too much batter will create an uneven crust and throw cooking times off.

Turn prawns (and/or veggies) over to fully cook on the other side. When done, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain excess fat. Finish with a light pinch of Himalayan or Sea salt
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Repeat until you’re out of things to fry or batter to dip it in!