Sweet or savoury fritter batter, and tempura batter: two basic recipes for frying fruit, vegetables or prawns. A classic that originated in ancient Rome, later adopted by Arab cooks and then all of Europe.
Fritters first appeared in ancient Rome and Greece, in the form of strips of fried dough coated in a honey sauce. The idea was later taken up by Arab cooks in the Middle Ages, who began frying yeasted doughs and dipping them in sweet syrup to soften them. Fritters then arrived in England, Germany and the Netherlands in the 1400s.
Fritter batter recipe
Preparation time: 5 minutes. Cooking time: 5 minutes. Makes 25 fritters.
Ingredients
- 125 g flour
- 15 cl milk
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
Method
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until you get a smooth, even batter. Chill this mixture for an hour. You can use it for sweet fritters (apple, banana) or savoury ones (courgette).
Tempura batter
Tempura batter is the Japanese take on fritter batter. It's mainly used to coat thinly sliced vegetables, small shellfish, or certain seafood and molluscs — its obvious advantage being its endless versatility.
Ingredients
- 100 g sifted flour
- 50 g potato starch or cornflour (such as Maïzena)
- ½ sachet baking powder
- 1 level teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 15 to 20 cl cold water
- Prawns or vegetables cut into strips, as preferred
- Frying oil
Method
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and the water, chilled beforehand in the fridge. Add the sifted flour, the starch and the baking powder. Mix vigorously until you get a smooth, runny batter.
- Add the salt, without letting it come into direct contact with the baking powder, or it may stop it from activating properly.
- As with a crêpe batter, leave to rest for 1 hour in the fridge.
- Ten minutes before the resting time is up, prepare the frying oil: the temperature should be around 200°C.
- Dip the peeled prawns or the cut vegetables into the batter, fully or partially, then season if needed.
