Vegetable Tempura Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is vegetable tempura batter made of? ›

This simple batter has just three ingredients: flour, egg, and ice water. Tempura mix is available in some specialty stores, but it's simple enough to use plain 'ol all-purpose flour instead. This incredibly basic mix of ingredients creates that puffy, light-as-air coating so many of us are familiar with.

The secret to crispy tempura is my addition of potato starch, carbonated water, and vodka. The potato starch helps lighten up the texture of the batter. If you only used flour, you would get thicker crusts that would get soggy fairly quicker because of the amount of gluten present.

For harder vegetables like squash or sweet potatoes, you may want to briefly blanch them to get them going before frying. But broccoli, mushrooms, and green beans or snap peas don't require any pre-cooking at all.

Tempura batter mix (天ぷら粉) is a convenient flour mixture for tempura. It contains cake flour, starch, baking powder, egg powder, and an emulsifier. Use it as a batter to deep-fry vegetables, seafood, and protein.

Most tempura batter is made with wheat flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content and therefore less gluten than all-purpose flour, making it a better choice for tempura—but both options will work.

Most of Tempura chefs recommend that flour to water ratio should be 1:1. Some recipe requires an egg (or two depending on the amount of flour and water), and some don't. It's up to you.

Traditionally, no tempura batter isn't suitable for vegans as the batter usually contains eggs. However, plant-based batters are easy to make at home and many restaurants do offer vegan options.

If the vegetables are not properly blanched, the enzymes will continue their activity even after cooling. This can lead to off taste and texture of the vegetables.

Cold water is critical for a properly light and airy tempura batter. The cold water does two things: First, it slows the development of gluten – which would otherwise cause the batter to be heavier and less crispy when fried.

Should you let tempura batter rest? ›

If you can't use the batter right away, place it in the refrigerator temporarily (for a few short minutes) to keep it cold until you're ready to cook. Don't make the batter ahead and let it sit in the fridge for an extended period of time. Freshly made tempura batter should be used as soon as possible.

Getting the oil right

Use vegetable oil for frying tempura — corn, canola, safflower or peanut, but not olive oil. Sesame oil is highly fragrant and adding a couple of tablespoons or more can add its perfume to your tempura.

The batter consistency should be light and watery when it's ready. This is all you need to make the Tempura batter! Hint: You can adjust the batter thickness after a test fry, by adding a touch more flour (thicker coating) or water (thinner coating), just remember to keep it cold!

If you notice bubbles next to the tips, then the oil is hot enough. The best time to prepare tempura batter is while the oil heats up. Although this is optional, we recommend that you dust the shrimp lightly with some corn or potato starch for a crispier result, as it helps the batter stick to the shrimp.

But what makes tempura different from other fried fare is its distinctive batter. It uses no bread crumbs and less grease than other frying methods. The batter is basically made from beaten egg, flour and cold water. Sometimes starch, oil or spices may be added.

Tempura is a Japanese dish of battered and deep fried vegetables, fish or shellfish. The batter is light and delicate which makes for a thin, crispy and crunchy coating. You can use any vegetable you like, but in this case I used what I had on hand, which was broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and green beans.

Traditionally, no tempura batter isn't suitable for vegans as the batter usually contains eggs. However, plant-based batters are easy to make at home and many restaurants do offer vegan options.

Kakiage is a type of tempura made with mixed vegetable strips, such as onion, carrot, and burdock, and sometimes including shrimp or squid, which are deep fried as small round fritters.