This light and airy batter allows vegetables to steam to perfection with a crunchy, flavorful batter on the outside!

Serve as an appetizer or as a lovely side dish. A great way to use a medley of vegetables from your garden in a unique and different way.   Don’t forget to enjoy the art of cooking, and the joy of eating, in the process.

Tempura Battered Vegetables Yield: 4 Cups 

INGREDIENTS

2 Cups or more, High Heat Vegetable Oil (Sunflower Oil or Avocado Oil are our favorites)

4 Cups Assorted Raw Vegetables

1 Cup Flour (may substitute gluten-free flour blend)

1 tsp Salt & Pepper Blend*

1 Egg

¾ Cup Soda Water

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Prepare your raw vegetables.  ¼” to ½” thick slices are ideal for most vegetables. Some vegetables such as broccoli and mushrooms work really nice when kept whole.
  2. Begin heating your oil slowly over medium heat. You will want the oil to fill the basin of your pan to at least 1” of thickness. For a 6” pan we use 2 cups of oil. If you have a candy thermometer, you want to bring the temperature at 350 degrees.
  3. While the oil is heating, prepare your batter. Whisk flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk egg and soda water together in a separate bowl until combined. With chopsticks, stir wet mixture into the dry, move around with chopsticks to blend into a batter, lumps are okay.
  4. Beginning with your thickest cut vegetable, place about 8 pieces into your batter and move around until fully coated.  Test your oil temperature by dropping just a dab of the batter into the hot oil. The batter should sink to the bottom and then float right up to the surface.  The oil will look like a river, with currents running throughout it.
  5. Place batter drudged vegetables into the hot oil with a slotted spoon. Using chopsticks, gently stir the vegetables around in the hot oil to ensure cooking on all sides. As the vegetables are cooking, place new raw vegetables in the batter to prepare for the next round of frying. Typically it works best to fry one vegetable type at a time for cooking consistency.
  6. Once the battered vegetables begin to turn a light golden brown and float to the top of the oil, they are ready to be removed, about 2-4 minutes depending on their cut.  Remove with metal tongs and place each vegetable piece on a paper towel lined baking sheet.
  7. Continue with the other vegetables until all are battered and fried. You may keep your baking sheet in the oven on it’s lowest setting to keep warm until enjoying.

* Premix ¾ quantity salt to ¼ quantity ground pepper and keep the blend handy for cooking