Ebi furai is basicly a japanese deep fried shrimp, and it's pretty popular both in japan and worldwide. It's a simple & tasty dish but it requires few techniques to make it right. I got a request from a friend to make this, but actually i had made it just once before, and it wasn't really that successful since i overcooked the shrimps lol
So, this time i watched many ebi furai recipe videos & decided to try 2 different recipe and see which one is better. I'll refer it by #1 recipe and #2 recipe in the steps below. It's actually almost the same, the only difference is in step 4.
And it turned out quite successful! :D I think the key is actually to not deep fry the ebi furai too long, cook it until it just turn golden (maybe about a minute) to get that soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside delicious ebi furai like the one you eat in a restaurant ;) It's a pretty simple recipe, you only need to be a bit patient when peeling and deveining the shrimps, especially if you're doing quite a large batch. I made about 20 shrimps and it took almost an hour to peel and devein them ~.~
Original recipe from #1 料理サプリ- 本格えびフライのレシピ and #2 Ochikeron - Ebi Furai (Deep Fried Prawn)
Ingredients:
salt & pepper
panko bread crumbs
(Choose one of these two recipes)
#1
50g all purpose flour (about 6 tbsp)
1 egg
2-3 tbsp milk
#2
all purpose flour as needed
1 egg
1. Wash & peel the shrimps but leave the tail attached, then devein the shrimps. (watch the video of the original recipe if you never do this before)
2. Make diagonal cuts along the stomach side, then press the shrimp on the back to break the "stringy" parts. Then cut the tail diagonally and remove the moisture inside (please watch the #1 video of the original recipe).
Wipe the shrimps gently with some paper towel to remove the excess moisture, then season with salt and pepper on both side.
3. Make the flour-egg mixture for the #1 recipe. Mix the flour, egg and 2 tbsp of milk in a bowl. If it's too thick, add more milk (about 1-2 tbsp). For the #2 recipe, put some flour in a plate, and whisk 1 egg in a bowl.
Put the panko bread crumbs in a big bowl, then arrange the plates & bowls so it's easier to make the ebi furai.
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| flour-egg-milk mixture for #1 recipe |
4. This step is differ depending which recipe (#1 or #2) you're using.
#1 Dip the shrimp in the flour-egg-milk mixture, then coat it with panko bread crumbs, press it slightly so the bread crumbs stick well to the shrimp. Set it aside, repeat for all the shrimps.
#2 Coat the shrimp with flour, dip in the egg, then coat with the bread crumbs. Set it aside, repeat for all the shrimps.
You can see that the ebi furai that i made with #1 recipe look bigger then the ones i made with #2 recipe even though originally all the shrimps are almost the same size.
5. Put oil in a small pan (about 1.5 cm is enough), heat it on high heat. Test with a piece of bread crumb to see if the oil is hot enough, it should sizzle immediately. Deep fry 3-4 ebi furai at a time, flip them halfway to fry evenly. Take them out when they just turn golden to not overcook the shrimp inside (about 1-2 minutes of frying). The color will darken a bit more as they sit.
If you're not very confident about this, first, test it with one ebi furai to see if you're not overcooking the shrimp.
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| the small one (3rd from the left) is #2 recipe, other are #1 recipe. |
And it's done! I plate it with lettuce & indigo tomato salad drizzled with sesame soy sauce dressing.
As i attempted to shot some "instagram-able" pics, my phone battery died -.- , so i shot w/ my sister's phone.
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| the inside is still pretty soft and juicy |
In Japan, they usually serve it with japanese tartar sauce, which is mayonnaise mix with chopped pickled cucumber, egg and onion. But i don't really like it, and prefer mayo-chili sauce. Just mix some mayo with chili sauce (sambal), and you ready to go ;)
If you wanna try making the japanese tartar sauce, please watch the video from original recipe.
The taste test
I think the #1 recipe is superior in almost every aspects. The shrimp turned out a little bit softer and more juicy, and the outer breadcrumbs layer is also more crunchy. The ebi furai also turned out bigger and more straight than #2 recipe, i think it's because it didn't shrink and curl as much as the #2.
The only downside was probably the shape, as you can see in the picture above that the ebi furai with #2 recipe (the small one, 3rd from left) looks a bit nicer. But i think i can improve the shape if i coat them with bread crumbs more carefully ;)
And the last experiment, i tried to freeze it overnight and fry it the next day. I remembered the frozen store-bought ebi furai i ate and the shrimp inside was softer, so i was thinking maybe because i fried it from the "frozen state" so the inside actually took longer to be cooked then the outside.
And it turned out really nice! The shrimps was a little bit softer than the ebi furai that wasn't frozen. So, you definitely can make a large batch, freeze it, and fry them when you wanna eat ;)
References:
料理サプリ- 本格えびフライのレシピ
Ochikeron - Ebi Furai (Deep Fried Prawn)
Cooking with dog - How to make Ebi Fry
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