No one knows for sure the origins of the Japanese word “tempura,” but one theory is my favorite.The word is written with three picture characters: Ten, which is also the first part of the word for heaven; pu indicates a woman; and ra is a type of woven silk gauze.Put them all together and you end up with something like “woman clad in silk gauze, giving a glimpse of heaven.”That may be outdated, but it’s not a bad description of tempura — a delicious nibble fried in a light, gauzelike coating.Tempura is all about the lightness of the coating; the more ethereal the better. It should be delicate …
