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Light & crispy tempura prawns & soy chilli dipping sauce

This is a great dish to impress friends. Prawns are perfect, but you could also use courgettes, aubergines, peppers and all sorts of vegetables as well if you like. I have made my own dipping sauce to serve with the tempura, but it is also delicious served with some ready-made chilli sauce.

Serves 3–4

500ml vegetable oil, for deep-frying

100g plain flour

100g cornflour

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp baking powder

180–200ml very cold sparkling water

Few ice cubes (not essential but it helps)

10 large raw prawns, peeled with tails still intact

Dipping sauce

20ml soy sauce

20ml mirin

½ chilli, deseeded and finely diced

½ clove of garlic, peeled and finely diced

1 x 5mm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced (or to taste)

Lay some kitchen paper on the work surface and place a wire rack over it. I put deep-fried food on this as soon as it is cooked because the fat can drip down onto the kitchen paper through the rack; this is better than letting the food sit in its own oil if put directly on kitchen paper. Have a slotted spoon or tongs at the ready, whichever is easiest for you to use.

Fill a medium, deep pan with enough oil to reach 5cm depth (I used about 500ml) and heat over a medium heat until a small piece of bread carefully placed in the oil browns in 50–60 seconds.

Just as the oil is almost at the right temperature, put the flour, cornflour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water. Mix everything together very quickly until just combined. The batter should be quite thick and it does not matter if there are still lumps. Add 2 or 3 ice cubes, then dip one of the prawns in the batter and let the excess drip off until you can still see a bit of prawn through the batter. Carefully add the prawns to the hot oil from a low height so the fat does not splatter. Do not overcrowd the pan, as this lowers the temperature of the oil and makes the prawns boil rather than fry, so add them in small batches and deep-fry for 2 minutes. The prawns will cook in 2–4 minutes (although this depends on how big the prawns are). Tempura batter is very pale, unlike fish and chip batter, so when it starts going from white to pale golden, the prawns should be ready. Check one by cutting it open to see if it is cooked. It should be white and not too glassy looking, and you will now know how long to cook the other prawns.

Remove the prawn with a slotted spoon or tongs and place it on the wire rack to drain, then repeat with the others. There will be enough batter here for some vegetables too, which are delicious.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and serve with the hot prawns.