Nobu-Inspired Shrimp Tem­pu­ra with Creamy Spicy Sauce on Watercress

(serves four)

1 1/2 pounds raw shrimp, cut into bite-sized piece, or rock shrimp

about 1/2 cup tem­pu­ra bat­ter mix

enough ice-cold water to make thick batter

oil for deep-frying

sev­er­al hand­fuls fresh water­cress, washed and spun dry

for sauce:

1 egg yolk

½ tea­spoons sea salt

cou­ple grinds of fresh white or black pepper

1 tea­spoon rice vinegar

100 ml grape­seed oil (or oth­er very mild­ly fla­vored oil)

2 tbsps chili gar­lic sauce

sev­er­al shakes Tabas­co, to taste

juice of 1/2 lemon

fresh minced chives

First, make the sauce:

This sauce is basi­cal­ly a fla­vored home­made may­on­naise, so sim­ply fol­low the pro­ce­dure for mayo and add fla­vors to taste.  Nobu’s recipe does not include Tabas­co or lemon juice, but to me, shrimp with­out lemon is… strange!  Whisk togeth­er the egg yolk, mirin, salt and pep­per.  Now very grad­u­al­ly whisk in the oil until ful­ly emul­si­fied.  Then add the fla­vor­ings to your taste, mak­ing it as spicy as you like.  Set aside at room temperature.

Heat the oil until ready to fry, then dip the shrimp in the tem­pu­ra bat­ter and fry for about a minute or until gold­en brown.  Toss the fried shrimp in the creamy spicy sauce and serve in indi­vid­ual bowls, on beds of water­cress, and top with chives.