Cook’s notes
What makes this dish different from shrimp tempura? Unlike tempura, ebi furai (literally, shrimp fry) is not coated in batter. Rather, you’ll need three things to coat the shrimps with: flour, beaten egg and panko.
Why flour, egg AND panko? You need the flour to make the egg stick to the shrimps. You need the egg to hold the panko in place and not float away in the oil during frying.
Sounds similar to fish katsu, doesn’t it? Why is it called ebi furai and and not ebi katsu? Because katsu dishes have cutlets. Whether it’s pork, chicken, beef or vegetables, katsu requires cutting the main ingredient into pieces with uniform thickness.
In cooking ebi furai, the shrimps are shelled and deveined (the tails are left on) but cooked whole. No cutlets. So, it’s not katsu.
Tip: Shelled and deveined shrimps prepped for tempura or furai are available in some Japanese groceries. Well, in our corner of the world anyway. If you don’t have access to them, see the step-by-step guide for shelling and deveining shrimps.
Japanese shrimp fry (ebi furai)
Ingredients
- 24 whole shrimps (large ones are best) shelled and deveined
- salt
- pepper
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup panko you may need more
- cooking oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Pat the shrimps dry with paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt and a bit of pepper.
- Place the flour, egg and panko in three separate shallow bowls. Beat the egg.
- Holding the shrimp by the tail, dredge each in flour (shake off the excess), dip in beaten egg, then roll in panko to coat every inch of the surface
- Repeat with the rest of the shrimps.
- Heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of at least three inches.
- Cooking in batches of four to six, drop the breaded shrimps in the hot oil and cook until the coating is golden and crisp, about a minute per batch. Scoop out and rest the fried shrimps on a rack.
- Serve the ebi furai with tartar sauce (traditional), sweet chili sauce (not traditional but excellent) or tempura sauce (great choice as well).
Gingered chicken, shiitake and bok choy soup