Psyche. Not really tempura but it might as well be. Dusted with flour then dipped in flavored batter. This can be done using one bowl. If some rice flour is used along with ice water then it's tempura. If wheat flour and plain cold milk is used then it's regular old fried chicken, which is every bit as good as tempura any day, plus it gets you out of having to make an Asian dipping sauce, an advantage erased if you bother with a Western dipping sauce or gravy.
The trick is to make a loose batter then rub it off instead of just letting it drip off. This is faster than waiting for the last drop to fall off and it prevents bits from breaking off and burning in the oil. Rub off nearly all the batter. What you see above is the remnant of the batter dipping. The thing that makes that ↑ so light is a speck of baking powder added to the flour. Don't overdo it with the baking powder -- it'll turn to foam, and deep-fried batter foam is disgusting -- holds too much oil.
Keep the oil at 350ºF
Gravy made using extra batter as a pre-made and pre-seasoned slurry. Heat butter in sauce pan, add chicken stock, here duck stock is used, remove from heat and with whisk flipping around, add batter by the tablespoon. Possibly as little as one single tablespoon. If lumps form just whisk them out, strain them, or eat them -- they're like tiny flavored dumplings.
The trick is to make a loose batter then rub it off instead of just letting it drip off. This is faster than waiting for the last drop to fall off and it prevents bits from breaking off and burning in the oil. Rub off nearly all the batter. What you see above is the remnant of the batter dipping. The thing that makes that ↑ so light is a speck of baking powder added to the flour. Don't overdo it with the baking powder -- it'll turn to foam, and deep-fried batter foam is disgusting -- holds too much oil.
Keep the oil at 350ºF
Gravy made using extra batter as a pre-made and pre-seasoned slurry. Heat butter in sauce pan, add chicken stock, here duck stock is used, remove from heat and with whisk flipping around, add batter by the tablespoon. Possibly as little as one single tablespoon. If lumps form just whisk them out, strain them, or eat them -- they're like tiny flavored dumplings.
Ah, no. What makes tempura batter different isn't because of the flour choice, but the fact that it is made with ice cold water and minimal mixing to achieve a very light, fluffy batter. And wheat flour is used, not rice.
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