Tokyo, Japan — tempura tradition specialisation
Kakiage is a specific form of tempura in which multiple ingredients (typically small shrimp, thin-sliced vegetables, and sometimes strips of squid or cuttlefish) are bound together with minimal batter and fried as a free-form fritter rather than individually-battered pieces. The technique is more demanding than standard tempura — the batter must be thin enough for transparency and crispness but sufficient to hold the ingredients in a cohesive disc during frying. Ingredients are tossed in the batter just before frying and slid from a spoon or spatula directly into the oil, where they spread slightly and bind together. Kakiage requires slightly higher oil temperature (180–185°C) than standard tempura. Classic combinations: sakura ebi (cherry blossom shrimp) + mitsuba; corn + edamame; kisu (smelt) + julienned vegetables. Served as tempura or atop soba/udon.
Crisp, airy batter with sweet-savoury mixed interior; sakura ebi gives distinctive ocean sweetness; corn adds pops of sweetness; mitsuba adds herbal freshness
Batter is slightly thicker than standard tempura batter to hold ingredients together; ingredients should be cut to similar sizes for even cooking; all ingredients must be bone-dry before battering (excess moisture causes steaming rather than frying); slide into oil gently from low angle to prevent splashing; do not move kakiage until it has set (30–40 seconds); drain thoroughly — kakiage has more interior moisture than flat tempura pieces.
Sakura ebi kakiage is the Japanese home cook's quick weeknight meal — the shrimp give instant umami and colour; mixing a small amount of potato starch with tempura flour increases binding without weight; kakiage atop chilled soba with warm tentsuyu dipping sauce (kakiage soba) is the ultimate autumn/winter lunch at a traditional soba restaurant; leftover kakiage reheated in a toaster oven re-crisps remarkably well.
Over-battered kakiage (becomes a doughy mass rather than crisp fritter); moving the fritter before it sets (it will break apart); using cold oil (produces greasy, soggy kakiage); cutting ingredients at different sizes causing uneven cooking; under-draining resulting in oil-pooling under the fritter; over-crowding the oil (drops oil temperature, produces steaming not frying).
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art — Shizuo Tsuji