Maitake tempura.

Maitake is the traditional tempura mushroom in Japan, and the reason is structural: a frond has dozens of thin overlapping surfaces, so the batter forms a lattice that fries into something lacy and brittle rather than a solid shell.

Pull the rosette into large flat fronds — flat is the operative word. A clustered chunk will fry on the outside and steam inside.

What you need

Mushrooms

• 12 oz maitake, pulled into large flat fronds
• 2 tbsp plain flour, for dusting

Batter

• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup ice-cold sparkling water

Tentsuyu

• ½ cup dashi
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• Grated daikon, grated ginger

Method

1. Make the tentsuyu first — warm dashi, soy and mirin together and let it cool. Grate the daikon just before serving. Homemade shiitake dashi is a real upgrade here.
2. Pull the maitake into fronds by hand, keeping them as flat and wide as possible. Do not cut — torn edges catch batter.
3. Heat the oil to 340°F. Tempura fries cooler than most frying; you want pale gold, not brown.
4. Dust the fronds with plain flour so the batter has something to grip.
5. Mix the batter last: yolk into ice water, then the flours, four or five strokes only. Lumps are correct — a smooth batter means gluten and a chewy shell.
6. Dip and fry two or three fronds at a time, 2 minutes, turning once. Flick a little extra batter into the oil around them for the classic lacy fragments.
7. Drain on a rack and serve within three minutes with the tentsuyu, daikon and ginger.

Flat fronds, cold batter

Those are the two things that matter. A flat frond fries evenly all the way through; cold batter stays brittle instead of bready. Sit the batter bowl inside a larger bowl of ice while you work.

Mix the batter only when the oil is at temperature. It starts slackening within minutes, and a rested tempura batter is a worse tempura batter.

Salt-and-lemon version

Skip the tentsuyu entirely and serve with flaky salt, lemon wedges and a little shichimi togarashi. Faster, and arguably better for the mushroom’s peppery character.

Other species

Golden oyster in whole bouquets is the other great candidate — recipe here. Beech mushrooms work in clusters. Lion’s mane needs pressing first or it steams inside the batter.

Common questions