Anago no Tempura (穴子の天ぷら, sea eel tempura)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Deep heavy pot or tempura nabe
• •Frying thermometer
• •Long cooking chopsticks or tongs
• •Wire rack set over a tray
• •Fish tweezers

Instructions

1. 1

   Check the eel

   Lay the butterflied anago skin-side down and run your fingers along the flesh. Pull any pin bones with tweezers. If the fillets are very long, cut each in half crosswise so they fit your pot without folding. Folding traps batter and cooks unevenly, which is how a graceful fish becomes a lump.

2. 2

   Salt and dry

   Sprinkle the eel lightly with the sea salt and rest it for 15 minutes. The salt firms the surface and draws out a little moisture, which helps the batter cling. Pat both sides very dry with paper towels, especially the skin side. This is the first secret.

   Wet eel sheds batter. Dry eel accepts it. That small difference decides the crust.
3. 3

   Make tentsuyu

   Combine the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small pot. Bring just to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat. This is tentsuyu, the dipping broth. Keep it warm, not boiling, because boiling drives off the clean dashi aroma you made it for.

4. 4

   Heat the oil

   Heat the oil in a deep pot to 175 C, or 350 F. If you have no thermometer, drop in a bit of batter. It should sink slightly, rise at once, and float with small lively bubbles. Oil too cool makes the coating greasy. Oil too hot browns the batter before the eel turns silky inside.

5. 5

   Mix the batter

   Beat the cold egg lightly with the ice-cold water, then add 1 cup flour and stir only a few times with chopsticks. Leave lumps. A smooth batter has been worked too much, and gluten gives tempura a heavy bite. Cold, lazy batter fries into lace.

6. 6

   Dust the anago

   Dust each eel piece very lightly with the reserved flour and shake off the excess. Flour is the dry hand that lets the batter hold on. Too much makes a paste, so use only a veil.

7. 7

   Fry the eel

   Dip one or two pieces of anago into the batter, let the excess drip once, and slide them into the oil skin-side down. Hold each piece with chopsticks for a moment if it wants to curl. Fry 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until the batter is pale gold and crisp and the eel feels tender when lifted. Do not crowd the pot. Crowding drops the oil temperature and turns delicacy into heaviness.

   Tempura is judged by timing, not color alone. Anago should stay pale and sweet under the coating, not browned into toughness.
8. 8

   Drain and serve

   Lift the tempura to a rack, not paper towels, and let the oil fall away for a minute. Paper traps oil against the crust and softens the work you just did. Serve at once with warm tentsuyu, grated daikon, and a wedge of sudachi or lemon. A pinch of salt is also enough, if the fish is very good.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger for anago that came in today and have it opened for tempura, se-biraki style if they know it, split along the back. The fish should smell clean and faintly sweet, never sharp.
• •Keep the batter bowl set over ice if the room is warm. Cold batter meets hot oil and sets before it drinks too much fat. That contrast is the whole tempura lesson.
• •Use a rack for draining. It sounds like a small thing, but tempura sitting on paper loses its crispness from below while you admire it from above.
• •If anago is unavailable, do not pretend another fish is the same dish. Whiting or small flatfish can be fried beautifully by this method, but anago no tempura belongs to sea eel.

Advance Preparation

• •The tentsuyu can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently before serving so the dashi stays clean and clear.
• •The anago can be checked for bones and kept covered in the refrigerator for a few hours, but salt and dry it only shortly before frying.
• •Do not mix the batter ahead. It should be made at the last moment, cold and barely stirred.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)