Shrimp Kakiage Don
This might be a little niche; but if you are a fan of fried shrimp heads… then this is the meal for you!
Ebi Kakiage is made up of a cluster of dried shrimps coated in tempura batter and fried until crispy! (Just imagine 10 shrimp heads in one fritter. That being said: if you are extremely sensitive to seafood flavours this is definitely not the snack for you. Might I suggest whipping up some of this batter and frying some thinly sliced veggies instead? Yes, yes I would.
A good rule of thumb for making this light and crispy tempura batter is keeping the wet to dry ratio at 1:1. Weighing the ingredients is the way to go.
While the batter itself is nice and flavourful from my addition of beer— the tentsuyu (a tempura dipping sauce) really helps add a ton of flavour. It’s also super fun pouring it onto my rice bowl with this ladle. Here is the eel sauce ladle I used.
Let’s make it!
Recipe:
Special Equipment:
small strainer / sieve
eel sauce ladle (optional)
Ebi Kakiage:
180g all purpose flour
70g potato starch
1 egg
200ml cold beer or carbonated water (I used 0% alcohol beer)
100g small dried shrimps
1/2L neutral oil, for frying
Add your oil to a medium saucepan and place over medium high heat
In a bowl, add the measured out all purpose flour and potato starch. Whisk to get rid of any lumps.
For best results: mix your batter just before you want to use it.
Add the egg and carbonated beverage of your choice to the dry ingredients. Using chopsticks, mix the batter together until just combined and no lumps remain. Careful not to over-mix.
Add about 2 spoonfulls of your dried shrimps to the bowl with the batter. Stir slightly to coat them.
Using a small strainer or a sieve, retrieve them from the batter. Let the excess drain slightly.
To fry: Pour the contents of your strainer into the saucepan with the preheated oil. Fry the fritter for 1-2 minutes on each side or until it just starts to change colour. (I like mine darker)
Remove from the oil and place the shrimp fritter on a cooling rack to drip dry, or a paper towel.
Repeat this frying process with the remaining batter and dried shrimp.
Tentsuyu Sauce:
2/3 cup water
1/4 tsp Ajimono Hon Dashi granules
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
In a small saucepan, add all the above ingredients. Place the saucepan over low heat, and bring it to a simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let the sauce cool.
This can also be made in the microwave: place all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heat for three, 20 second intervals (a total of 1 minute). Make sure the sugar is dissolved at the end!
To serve:
white short grain rice
ebi kakiage
homemade tentsuyu (or buy it!)
scallion, thinly sliced
Place 1 serving of freshly steamed short grain rice in a bowl
Add 2-3 ebi kakiage on top
Using a spoon or eel sauce ladle, pour 2 tbsp of your tentsuyu over the kakiage, allowing them to soak up the sauce.
Optional: Top with shichimi togarashi and slices of scallion.
Enjoy right away!
Notes: This Ebi Kakiage Don is best consumed right away. I don’t RECOMMEND saving the fritters and eating them later, as they will soften.
The Tentsuyu will last up to 3 weeks stored in an airtight container in the fridge. So you can make a large batch and keep for later.
The batter should be mixed right before you intend to fry the fritters, so I would also not recommend making it in advance.
