Tempura Udon
Fat slippery noodles in clear amber broth with a prawn tempura balanced on top, slowly surrendering its crunch. The race between crispness and soup is half the fun.
- Total time
- 18 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Medium
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 10 in the basket.
How you make it
Heat the frying oil to 180C and bring a pot of water to the boil for the noodles.
Make three shallow cuts along the belly of each prawn and straighten them gently so they fry straight instead of curling.
Whisk the flour, cornflour and ice-cold sparkling water together with chopsticks for only a few seconds - lumps are correct and overmixing makes the batter heavy.
Dip the prawns and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the batter is pale gold and crisp and the prawns are opaque and firm all the way through, then drain on a rack.
Warm the dashi with the soy sauce, mirin and sugar until steaming, and boil the udon for 2 to 3 minutes until soft and slippery, then drain.
Divide the noodles between two bowls, pour the hot broth over, and perch the tempura on top with the spring onions so the batter stays above the waterline.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Tempura Udon is sitting in the Japanese kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Japanese kitchen
Quiet, precise, and secretly the coziest food there is.