Quick & Easy Vegetable Tempura

One of my favorite foods to indulge in every time I visit a Japanese restaurant is vegetable tempura. Tempura is a Japanese dish which normally consists of either vegetables or seafood which have been lightly battered and deep fried. Though this may seem like a heavy or greasy dish, the light batter used in tempura means that the tempura remains light and crispy.

Vegetable tempura is surprisingly easy to make at home, and you can use almost any vegetable, making it an ideal side-dish for even the pickiest of eaters. Tempura can be a great way to introduce vegetables into a child's diet, or serve as an update to a traditional dish. Because this version of the vegetable tempura recipe is vegan, you can also serve it at parties to satisfy a wide range of tastes.

How to Make Quick and Easy Vegetable Tempura:

Here's what you'll need to make the vegetable tempura batter:

1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 cup seltzer

You'll also need vegetable oil and a deep fryer or deep cast-iron pot to fry your vegetable tempura.

When choosing vegetables, almost anything goes. You can use thinly sliced carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, onions, avocado, eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, green beans, or mushrooms. Anything that can be sliced and still retain its shape can be made into tempura. For added authenticity, you can fry purple yams or lotus root. Whatever your favorite vegetable is, you can probably make it into tempura.

Here's how to do it:

Heat your oil in the deep fryer or cast-iron pot to 350F. Mix your batter ingredients together using a whisk (to keep the batter light and airy.) Slice your vegetables into either thin sticks or thin round slices, and dip the pieces one by one into the batter. Allow the excess batter to run off, and fry your vegetables for just a few minutes, until they turn a light golden brown.

How to Serve Quick and Easy Vegetable Tempura:

You can then season your vegetable tempura with sea salt to taste. Serve the tempura with soba noodles or with a dipping sauce (soy sauce can work well in a pinch, but you should try different options to see what goes best with different vegetables.)