Stuffed Shishito Pepper Tempura

If you are looking for appetizers that are sure to delight and please your guests’ palate, you have come to the right place.  Stuffed shishito pepper tempura is so unique and so delicious.  It takes just a little bit more cooking techniques than usual, but they are SO worth it. 

One forewarning, though:  these things get devoured so fast that you either need to ration them so that everyone gets some, or plan to make a few of them per person.  I’ve had a situation where I plate and serve them as appetizers, go out of the kitchen to get something (OK, I may have stopped to socialize along the way!), only to come back to an empty plate!  And I did not even have one single piece for myself!

What is Shishito Pepper?

Shishito is the Japanese name for these small, bright green peppers with smoky and vibrant flavor.  One out of every 10 (or so) of these peppers tend to be spicy. The rest of them have pretty much no heat at all.

How to cut Shishito Peppers

Typically, you can just remove the stem and the top of the shishito peppers and cook them whole without removing the seeds.  But since we are going to stuff them, we need to make some room for the filling.  

Cut the stem and top off the pepper.  Make an incision vertically down just one side.  Open the pepper to remove seeds and membrane.  You don’t need to meticulously remove all the seeds since they are not spicy.

Related article: Grill these peppers with chicken with my yakitori with shishito peppers recipe.

How to make shrimp paste

Shrimp paste may sound a little peculiar if you have never had it. But the shrimp paste filling isn’t fishy or pasty when it’s cooked like this.  It becomes a light yet firm filling that is a perfect complement to the crunchy tempura batter. 

Making the shrimp paste is quite easy as long as you have a food processor:

• Use cooked (thawed) shrimp
• Remove the tail and devein the shrimp
• Then throw them in the food processor
• Keep pulsing until the shrimp just starts to form into a smooth paste BUT still with some chunks remaining

If you process it too long, it will turn into mousse-like texture.  And you don’t want that for this recipe.

How to properly dispose of the cooking oil

As tempting as it may be to just pour the used cooking oil down the drain to clean up, it is not the most environmentally friendly decision you can make.  It can also ultimately clog up the drains in your house.  

Since you are using quite a bit of cooking oil when making tempura, it is probably a useful thing to know how to properly dispose the used cooking oil, if you don’t already have a method you are following.

Reuse cooking oil
Cooking oil can be recycled if you have the right tool, especially if you clean up the remaining particles and crumbs along the way.  If you let the small pieces burn though, the oil will become darker and can have burnt flavor to it.  

Let the oil cool down first.  Then pour the oil through a coffee filter into a container, or even into a container made specially to recycle and store cooking oil.  Store in a cool and dry place.  

By the way, the bits of these fried tempura batter produce what is called tenkasu (roughly translated “tempura waste”).  If you scoop them up as you go, making sure that they are not burnt, you can actually use them in other Japanese dishes like Okonomiyaki!

Dispose cooking oil 
The best way to dispose the cooking oil is to use a disposable bag or non-recyclable containers.  Non-recyclable containers like Styrofoam, takeout containers or sour cream/cottage cheese containers usually are thrown out anyway.  So, save them to use for disposing used cooking oil.

Let the cooking oil cool first then pour the oil into a bag or container, seal then toss it in your trash bin.  Using a funnel will make the job even easier and less messy.

Dipping sauce options

These stuffed shishito peppers are so flavorful by themselves that they don’t really need any tempura dipping sauce, but here are some options if you want to offer them.  Serve any of these, separately, in dipping sauce dishes:

• Sea salt
• Ponzu
• Tempura dipping sauce: Mix 1 tablespoons Mentsuyu/Hontsuyu and 3 tablespoons water

Stuffed Shishito Pepper Tempura Recipe

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