Vegetable tempura with soy & dipping sauce

Vegetable tempura with soy & dipping sauce

These crisp Japanese-style treats are great for nibbles or a veggie main course.

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 - 15 mins

Vegetarian

Vegetarian

Method

  1. Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Make the batter (see right). Cover a baking tray with sheets of kitchen paper. Start to heat a deep-fat frying pan or large wok a third full of oil and have the frying basket, or slotted spoon to hand
  2. When the oil reaches 190C dip some of the prepared veg briefly into the batter, shake off any excess, then lower straight into the hot oil. Don't crowd the frying basket. Fry for about 2 mins until light golden and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper.
  3. Repeat with the remaining vegetables in batches, dipping into the batter just before you fry them and remember to let the oil heat back up to temperature between each batch. Keep the tempura warm in the oven, leaving the door slightly ajar so that they stay crisp. They are best served immediately on a warm plate with the sauce alongside for dipping.
Try

Making tempura batter

Mix this just as you are about to cook. Sift 85g/3oz plain flour and 1 tbsp cornflour with ½ tsp fine sea salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk in 200ml/7fl oz ice-cold sparkling mineral water along with a few ice cubes using a whisk, but don't over beat. It doesn't matter about a few lumps. Use immediately.

Keeping it crisp

The secret is: don't over-mix it, or let it stand; keep the batter ice-cold and the oil hot; and don't fry too many pieces at once as this will reduce the temperature of the oil.

Per serving

471 kcalories, protein 5g, carbohydrate 33g, fat 35 g, saturated fat 6g, fibre 4g, sugar 4g, salt 2.08 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2005.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 07 November 2007

    veganonly commented on this recipe

    You give the ingredients for the sauce but don't say how it's made - are the ingredients just mixed together?

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  • 08 November 2007

    diabetic rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Veganonly, yes, simply mix the sauce ingredients together. It's also good if you just use some soy sauce with some wasabi paste mixed up in it. While we were in Japan, one of our friends showed us how he makes his, instead of sparkling water, he uses the cheapest beer he can find, sticks it in the freezer to get as cold as possible before preparing it. He also uses rice flour for the batter which makes it very light and super crispy. We use carrots, a selection of mushrooms, eggplant, zuchinni, sweet potato, potato, broccoli, butternut squash (or any other firm squash), green beans, peppers (both sweet and spicy), celeriac and asparagus and all those work well, but experiment with other veg. It also works great with shrimp/prawns and firm fish for those who do eat them.

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  • 09 February 2008

    Jonathan commented on this recipe

    If you are making tempura potatoes or sweet potatoes, do you par boil them first? what is the best length of time to do this for was i do not want them to break apart, not do i want them to be raw! any advice would be greatly received!

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  • 07 November 2008

    Alli commented on this recipe

    Perfect tempura batter. Dipping sauce bitter: I'll omit the lemon zest next time and try frech green chilli.

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  • 21 December 2009

    SammyDBoo commented on this recipe

    Is there an alternative to corn flour that can be used?

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  • 04 April 2011

    kebabthief commented on this recipe

    I found that the batter didn't stick to the vegetables very well, so it was like having deep fried vegetables with tiny little bits of batter stuck to them. Shouldn't there be an egg in the batter?

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  • 28 July 2011

    kittykat rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great recipe. Really easy and impressive as a dinner party starter. Don't be intimidated by the deep frying, it's well worth the effort, but remember don't put too many in at once as you'll bring down the temperature of the oil. Kebabthief, no, no need for egg in japanese tempura, were the vegetables completely dry before sticking them in the batter? SammyDBoo, you can use rice flour instead of cornflour.

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  • 07 April 2013

    sandypandy commented on this recipe

    Went down very well in our house last night. We used asparagus, peppers, baby corn, broccoli and prawns. The prawns were Gorgeous. Used sweet chilli dipping sauce instead. Will definitely be making again.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 - 15 mins

Vegetarian

Vegetarian

Great with drinks

Ingredients

  • 100g (approx) each of a mix of firm vegetables , cut into bite-size pieces, such as aubergine, broccoli, courgette, mushrooms, red pepper and sweet potatoes
  • tempura batter (see below)
  • groundnut or sunflower oil , for deep frying

FOR THE SAUCE

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Per serving

471 kcalories, protein 5g, carbohydrate 33g, fat 35 g, saturated fat 6g, fibre 4g, sugar 4g, salt 2.08 g

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