Vegetable & Shrimp Tempura

Tempura is, of course, popular in the West, so I had eaten it many times before my first visit to Japan. When I arrived in Tokyo, I discovered that, like teriyaki, tempura in its homeland is quite different from its Western counterpart.

In Japan, where some of the finest restaurants specialize in the dish, I was introduced to tempura that was as light as air and had a melt-in-your-mouth crispiness. The secret to good tempura lies in the high-quality ingredients, a thin batter, and a