What is Tendon?
Have you ever craved a dish that perfectly balances crispy textures with sweet and savory flavors on a bowl of rice?
Tendon, short for tempura donburi, is a beloved Japanese dish that combines two classic elements of the country’s cuisine: crispy tempura and freshly cooked rice. It features golden, battered pieces of seafood or vegetables perched atop a bowl of fluffy white rice, all drizzled with a special sweet and savory sauce.
Rooted in Tokyo (formerly known as Edo), tendon holds a special place in Japanese food culture. It’s considered one of the “three flavors of Edo,” alongside other local specialties that showcase the bounty of Tokyo Bay. Traditionally, tendon featured fresh catches like succulent shrimp, sweet fish, and conger eel.
While it may sound fancy, tendon is essentially Japan’s fast food. For generations, locals in Tokyo have turned to this satisfying meal for a quick, delicious bite. Today, you can find tendon not only in soba restaurants and general eateries across Japan.
How I Developed This Recipe
You know how there are many donburi options out there in Japan? Well, for me, the ultimate ones are either tendon or katsudon.
What makes tendon so special? It’s all about that perfect combination: crispy tempura, special sweet sauce, and fluffy white rice. I’m not exaggerating when I say I could eat this every day.
Now, I’ve gone and created a special sauce that takes this dish to the next level. And here’s the best part – even if you don’t have time to make tempura from scratch, you can still enjoy an amazing tendon. Just grab some store-bought tempura, pour on this easy-to-make sauce, and voila!
Key Ingredients & Substitution Ideas
- Tempura ingredients: Use your favorite tempura ingredients. I like to use shrimp, eggplant, shiitake mushrooms, shishito peppers, shiso leaves, pumpkin, and nori. Feel free to mix and match or focus on just seafood or vegetables. For instructions on how to make batter and fry, see my Tempura Batter Recipe.
- Tempura flakes (tenkasu): If you make your own tempura, I highly recommend making homemade tempura flakes. You can find recipe for my tempura flakes article.
- Mirin: This is indispensable for tendon sauce. If possible, I suggest using hon mirin (本みりん) for a richer, more complex sweetness.
- Sake: I prefer using drinking-grade sake rather than cooking sake. Even inexpensive varieties work much better than “cooking sake.”
- Soy sauce: Use a good quality dark soy sauce (koikuchi) for depth of flavor. I’ve listed some recommended brands in my Guide to Soy Sauce article.
- Light brown sugar: I personally recommend light brown sugar because it gives a richer taste to the sauce. Regular brown sugar works well too, or you can use white sugar.
- Dashi granules: These instant granules provide quick umami. In my Dashi Granule guide article, I’ve provided detailed recommendations for brands and how to choose them.
Curious about the exact brands and products that bring my recipes to life? Discover the brands and ingredients behind my recipes at the Sudachi Amazon Storefront. Explore my handpicked pantry essentials and find your next kitchen favorites!
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Visual Walkthrough & Tips
Here are my step-by-step instructions for how to make Tendon at home. For ingredient quantities and simplified instructions, scroll down for the Printable Recipe Card below.
This section aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the cooking steps and techniques with visuals. It also includes more in-depth tips and tricks and explains why I do what I do.
Chill the water and sparkling water in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Use ice-cold water, not warm. Cold water prevents gluten formation, resulting in lighter tempura.
Sift and mix cornstarch and cake flour, then chill for 20-30 minutes. Use cake flour instead of bread flour, as its lower protein content prevents sticky, heavy batter.
While you wait, you can prepare your other ingredients. Wash, cut, and thoroughly dry ingredients with paper towels. Keep in mind that root vegetables should be cut thinner to reduce cooking time.
Then dust with flour. Dry ingredients fry better, and the flour coating helps the batter adhere.
Extra tip: Making shallow incisions on shrimp will help prevent curling.
Store prepared ingredients in sealed containers in the refrigerator until it’s time to fry.
In a saucepan, combine mirin, sake, soy sauce, light brown sugar, and dashi granules. Heat over low-medium heat until simmering.
Let it simmer gently for about 3 minutes, or until the alcohol aroma from the sake and mirin has dissipated. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Before you make the batter, heat your oil to 180°C (355°F) in a deep, heavy-bottomed pot. A contactless cooking thermometer ensures accuracy and safety.
In a cold bowl, combine chilled water, sparkling water, and egg. Remove any foam from the surface. Gradually add the flour mixture in thirds, gently mixing with chopsticks.
Don’t overmix; lumps in the batter contribute to a crispy texture. Prepare the batter just before frying to minimize gluten formation.
Test the oil temperature by dropping a small amount of batter into it. If it sizzles and rises quickly, the oil is ready. Coat each ingredient in flour, dip in batter, and carefully lower into the hot oil.
Fry one type of ingredient at a time for even cooking.
When cooking large amounts, cooking in batches is the way to go. This will not only stop the tempura from sticking together, but also keep a steady oil temperature. Drops in temperature can cause soggy batter and we don’t want that!
If you’re making a lot, add a few ice cubes to the batter to keep it cold or store it in the freezer between batches. Cold batter reacts better to the oil.
Fry until the tempura is lightly golden and crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon or spider strainer. Drain on a wire rack to maintain crispness.
I recommend using leftover batter to make tenkasu (tempura flakes). These can be sprinkled over the rice and mixed in so that you can enjoy the flavor of tempura in every bite!
Simply dip a whisk into the leftover batter and shake it over the oil to create little balls of crispy goodness. Make sure to transfer to kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil before you put them on your rice though.
Divide cooked rice among serving bowls. Sprinkle a small amount of tenkasu (tempura flakes) over the rice, then lightly drizzle some tendon sauce over it.
In each bowl, place the freshly made tempura on top of the rice. Pour the remaining tendon sauce over the tempura to complete the dish.
If you like a hint of spice, try sprinkling a little bit of shichimi togarashi over the top!
Enjoy!
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I hope you enjoy this Tendon recipe! If you try it out, I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought by giving a review and star rating in the comments below. It’s also helpful to share any adjustments you made to the recipe with our other readers. Thank you!
More Donburi Recipes
- Gyudon (Beef Bowl)
- Katsudon (Pork Cutlet Bowl)
- Yakiniku Don (BBQ Style Beef Bowl)
- Garlic Teriyaki Chicken Donburi
Want more inspiration? Explore my Donburi Roundup Post for a carefully selected collection of tasty recipe ideas to spark your next meal!
Tendon (Tempura Rice Bowl)
Ingredients
Suggested Tendon Ingredients
- 4 large shrimp deshelled and deviened (I recommend tiger, white leg or similar)
- 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 4 perilla (shiso) leaves
- 1 sheet nori cut into quarters
- 2 eggplants Japanese or similar
- 4 slices kabocha squash skin-on
- 4 shishito peppers
Tempura Batter
- 200 ml water chilled
- 100 ml soda water (or club soda) chilled
- 1 egg
- 30 g cornstarch
- 150 g cake flour plus extra for dusting
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 5 ice cubes
- cooking oil for deep frying
To Serve
- 4 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- Japanese chili powder (shichimi togarashi)
Instructions
- Place all of the batter ingredients in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes ahead of cooking. I recommend measuring the dry ingredients (except the baking powder) into a bowl and chilling them in the freezer too. I would also use this time to soak/cook the rice.
- To make the sauce, pour 45 ml soy sauce, 45 ml sake, 60 ml mirin, 1 tbsp light brown sugar and 1 tsp dashi granules into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium and let it bubble for 3 minutes before removing from the heat and setting aside to cool.
- Wash, dry and cut your tempura ingredients. Make shallow diagonal incisions on the bellies of 4 large shrimp to prevent curling. Cut off the stems and cut 2 eggplants in half lengthways. Trim the stems off 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms. Prepare a plate of flour for dusting.
- Start heating a deep pot of cooking oil to 180 °C (356 °F) to 190 °C (374 °F). While you wait, whisk 200 ml water, 100 ml soda water (or club soda) and 1 egg in a bowl until combined. Sift in 30 g cornstarch , ½ tsp baking powder and 150 g cake flour, then draw crosses in the mixture to combine without overmixing (lumps are okay). Add 5 ice cubes to chill it further.
- Once your oil is hot, dust your ingredients with a light layer of flour, then dip into the batter and place them straight into the oil. I recommend cooking each ingredient in separate batches for accurate cooking times. Shrimp, mushrooms and eggplants take 2-3 minutes, perilla leaves and nori will take about 30 seconds. Fry until crispy and a pale golden color. (If using root vegetables, cooking time depends on thickness and can range from 2-4 minutes.) Once cooked, drain on a wire rack.
- When all of your ingredients are cooked, dip a whisk into the leftover batter and sprinkle it over the oil to make tempura flakes. Fry until golden and crispy, then scoop out with a mesh spoon and transfer to a sheet of kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.
- Divide 4 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice into deep serving bowls, sprinkle the tops with tempura flakes and tendon sauce.
- Arrange the tempura on top, then pour over the remaining sauce.
- Enjoy!
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