Tendon (天丼, tempura over rice)

Tendon looks like two hard dishes stacked on each other: tempura, then rice. It isn't. What decides it is not the number of pieces in the bowl, but the condition of the crust when it meets the sauce. Crisp first, glazed last. The rice will do the rest.

The sauce is tare, a dark sweet-savory glaze built from dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and a little sugar. It should taste too strong to drink, because it has two jobs: season the tempura quickly and sink into the rice below. If you drown the bowl, the crust gives up. If you brush or dip each piece lightly, you get the pleasure we want here, lacy edges above and seasoned rice underneath.

Use glistening fresh shrimp and vegetables in their 旬 (shun), at their prime. Kabocha in autumn, lotus root in winter, asparagus in spring, eggplant or shishito in summer. The batter is only there to protect what is good already, not to disguise it. Nothing hidden.

This is a donburi, a bowl meal, and it belongs to the plain good sense of Japanese cooking: rice, a little sauce, one careful method on top. Keep the batter cold, the oil steady, and the sauce restrained. Leave it room in the bowl. A crowded tendon is just impatience with chopsticks.