Fusion

Tempura Camarón

Name: Tempura Camarón
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 8 tacos
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 Habanero chiles; 6 Chiles de árbol; 2 cloves Garlic; 3/4 cup Mayonnaise; 2 tbsp Lime juice; 1/2 tsp Salt; 3/4 cup All-purpose flour; 1/4 cup Cornstarch; 1/2 tsp Baking powder; 1/2 tsp Fine salt; 1 cup Ice-cold sparkling water; 1 lb Large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails off; 4 cups Neutral oil, for frying; 2 cups Red cabbage, finely shredded; 1 Persian cucumber, in thin half-moons; 8 Corn tortillas; 2 limes Lime wedges

Featherlight tempura shrimp out of Tijuana's Japanese-Mexican playbook, buried under a five-alarm mayo of charred habanero and toasted chile de árbol. The batter shatters, the cabbage cools, and the salsa arrives about three seconds later — hard.

Time: 35 min
Heat
Yield: 8 tacos
Region: Baja California

Ingredients

Five-alarm mayo

Tempura batter

To build

Per-100g nutrition (11 ingredients verified)

Ingredient	kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs
Garlic	167	0 g	0 g	33.3 g
Mayonnaise	786	0 g	78.6 g	0 g
Lime juice	—	0 g	0 g	6.7 g
Salt	0	0 g	0 g	1330 g
All-purpose flour	333	10 g	0 g	76.7 g
Cornstarch	381	0.3 g	0.1 g	91.3 g
Baking powder	0	0 g	0 g	0 g
Fine salt	—	13.3 g	1.8 g	72 g
Neutral oil, for frying	884	0 g	100 g	0 g
Persian cucumber, in thin half-moons	15	0 g	0 g	3.9 g
Corn tortillas	188	3.1 g	1.6 g	40.6 g

Values are per 100 g of the listed ingredient. Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients without a verified match are omitted.

Method

Char the habaneros and toast the chiles de árbol in a dry skillet until blistered and brick-red — crack a window, the fumes are real.
Blend the chiles with the garlic, lime juice, and salt into a paste, then blend in the mayonnaise until smooth and alarmingly orange. Chill.
Heat the oil in a deep pot to 375°F while you pat the shrimp very dry.
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Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt, then stir in the ice-cold sparkling water at the last second — lumps are fine, don't overmix.
Dip the shrimp in batter and fry in batches until puffed and pale gold, about 2 minutes. Drain on a wire rack, never paper.
Warm the tortillas, lay in cabbage and cucumber, add 2 or 3 shrimp each, and drizzle heavily with the five-alarm mayo. Lime on top, cold drink on standby.