How to Make Crispy Tempura?

Source: http://japanesefood.about.com



These tips are for making crispy tempura:
1. Ice
Use ice water for the batter.  This is really important to prevent the batter from absorbing too much oil.

2. Batter
Refer to recipe for Japanese Tempura Flour Batter.  DO NOT
(a) Prepare batter ahead of time.
(b) Over mix batter.
(c) Coat ingredients with too much batter.

3. Frying Order
If frying both seafood and vegetables, fry vegetables first, then follow by seafood.  Fry vegetables at 340 degF (or ~170 degC) and fry seafood at 350 degF (or ~177 degC).

4. Oil Temperature
To check the temperature of frying oil, drop a little batter into the oil.  If the batter comes up right away instead of sinking to the bottom of the pan, it's about 360 degF.  If the batter goes halfway to the bottom and comes up, it's about 340 degF.  This is said to be the right temperature to fry tempura.