Padron pepper tempura is a light and crispy dish made by coating mild Padrón peppers in a delicate tempura batter and frying them until golden. This easy Padrón pepper tempura recipe highlights the natural flavor of the peppers while adding an airy, crunchy texture. Served as an appetizer or tapas-style dish, it is perfect for sharing and pairs well with simple dipping sauces.
Padron Pepper Tempura
Print RecipeIngredients
- 20 Piece padron pepper (or jalapeno)
- 125 Gram (g) flour
- 250 Millilitre (ml) ice cold water
- 1 Tea spoon (tsp) salt
- 1 Piece egg
- 1 Tea spoon (tsp) baking soda
- 500 Millilitre (ml) deep frying oil
Instructions
While tempura seems to be an exclusive domain of tempura specialty restaurants, it is also easy to make at home with very good results. Make the tempura batter just before you are ready to begin deep-frying, do not let the batter stand. The marks of good tempura batter are a powdery ring of flour at the sides of the mixing bowl and a mixture marked with lumps of dried flour. Make sure all foods to be coated are thoroughly dry (pat dry with toweling if necessary) and then dredge lightly in flour. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat 1 egg, then pour in ice water and give this a few strokes. Add si!ed flour all at once. Stroke a few times with chopsticks or fork, just till ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be very lumpy. If you overmix, the batter will be sticky and the coating will turn out oily and heavy. Dunk peppers in the batter one at a time; then drop them into the oil (carefully!). Fry the Padrón peppers for about 1 min. You can turn them around a!er 30 sec. to make sure they are evenly fried. Do not fry all peppers at once – only about 5 at a time (otherwise the oil will drop in temperature). Take the peppers out of the pot and let the remaining oil drip o” on a paper napkin or paper towel. Salt them and serve with soy sauce.
