Tempura/Tenpura is a fritter like dish of seafood and vegetables dipped in a flour-and-water batter and deep fried in vegetable oil.

Tempura History
Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese  missionaries and traders. Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, reportedly loved tempura. He apparently died after eating too much of it according to the historical article.

Common Tempura Ingredients

* Seafood
prawn, shrimp, squid, scallop, anago (conger eel), ayu  (sweetfish), crab, and a wide variety of fish

* Vegetables
bell pepper, kabocha squash, eggplant, carrot, burdock, green beans, sweet potato, yam, potato, renkon (lotus root), shiitake mushroom, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and okra.

Serving and Presentation

Cooked bits of tempura are either eaten with dipping sauce or used to assemble other dishes. Tempura is commonly served with grated daikon and eaten hot immediately after frying. The most common sauce is tentsuyu sauce. Alternatively, tempura may be sprinkled with sea salt before eating. Mixtures of powdered green tea and salt or yuzu and salt are also used.

Kakiage is a type of tempura made with mixed vegetable strips, such as onion, carrot, and burdock, and sometimes including shrimp, which are deep fried as small round fritters.

Tempura is also used in combination with other foods. When served over soba, it is called tempura soba or tensoba. Tempura is also served as a donburi dish where tempura shrimp and vegetables are served over steamed rice in a bowl (tendon) and on top of udon soup (Tempura Udon).