Easy & Simple Tenmusu (Shrimp Tempura Rice Ball)

Easy & Simple Tenmusu (Shrimp Tempura Rice Ball)

Crispy fried shrimp tempura seasoned in a sweet tsuyu sauce wrapped in sushi rice and crispy nori. This easy tenmusu is a delicious Japanese rice ball made with simple ingredients in 30 minutes! A great meal or snack for tempura-lovers!

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 3

Assembly time 16

Total Time 34

Course Main Course, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Servings pieces

Calories per serving 160 kcal

Ingredients

8 jumbo shrimp
2 cups vegetable oil or any neutral oil
2 sheets nori cut equally into 4 vertical strips with scissors

For the Rice

4 cups cooked short-grain rice hot
1 teaspoon salt to season rice

Tempura Batter

¼ cup potato starch or sub with cornstarch
¼ cup cake flour or see below Notes for a substitute
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup water very cold

Dipping Sauce

¼ cup soy sauce store-bought
¼ cup water very cold

Instructions

Season hot cooked short-grain rice with 1 teaspoon salt. Allow this to cool down but keep it covered to prevent the rice from drying out. Set aside.
First peel deveined shrimp leaving the tails on. Then pat dry the shrimp with paper towel to remove excess moisture.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the tempura batter ingredients as listed above until smooth and runny. Then mix shrimp into the batter ensuring it's fully coated.
In a large heavy bottomed pan, heat vegetable oil on medium high heat until you reach 350 degrees F with a digital instant read cooking thermometer or insert a wooden utensil and look for rapid bubbles.
Fry battered shrimp in small batches, about 3-4 pieces per batch. Drizzle 2 teaspoon of excess batter on top of each piece of shrimp, flip it over and let this fry for 1 minute or until crispy. Then drizzle another 2 teaspoon of batter, flip over and fry for another 1 minute or until it's crispy.
Remove with tongs or a slotted spoon and transfer to a wire rack or paper towel baking sheet to allow excess oil to drip off.
On a clean working surface, spread out a large sheet of plastic wrap. Measure ½ cup of the seasoned rice and place it into the center of the plastic wrap. Wrap the rice into a ball and shape it into a triangle.
Poke a hole at the top of the triangular shaped rice ball with your thumb. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine Tsuyu soup concentrate and cold water to make the sauce. Dip one shrimp tempura into the sauce.
Insert the seasoned shrimp tail side up into the hole of the rice ball. The rice will break apart here which is normal, so cover the ball with the plastic wrap and shape it back into a triangle.
Remove the rice ball from the plastic wrap and wrap it with a strip of nori around the rice part. Repeat this until you have 7 more rice balls. Enjoy!

Notes

Cake Flour Substitute

Measure out ¼ cup or 30 grams of all-purpose flour
Then remove ½ tablespoon or 4 grams tablespoon of the all-purpose flour.
Then replace with ½ tablespoon or 4 grams cornstarch. Whisk well.

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