Mixed Vegetable Tempura with Homemade Dipping Sauce

Is there a better appetizer than mixed vegetables coated in a light, homemade tempura batter, fried until perfectly crunchy, and served with a spicy and umami-rich dipping sauce? You tell me! This Mixed Vegetable Tempura can be easily customized with seasonal veggies to make it right for every time of the year.

I don’t know about you, but if we see tempura vegetables on a Japanese restaurant’s menu, we go for it! So why not make it at home, choosing our favorite veggies? This appetizer is a restaurant-quality dish that comes together quickly, and the best part is that you can use seasonal vegetables to make this recipe all year round.

For fall and winter, we like something heartier, like sweet potatoes, oyster mushrooms, pumpkin, broccoli, carrots, or even parsnips. During summer, we like using asparagus, zucchini, or bell peppers. Also, feel free to change the dipping sauce, but trust me, if you love spicy and umami flavors, you’ll love it!

This dish brings me back to Malaysia, where we found the perfect little Vegan Japanese Restaurant that was simply amazing and inspired us to cook many Japanese recipes like this Vegetable Tempura or this delicious Agedashi Tofu recipe.

Making vegetable tempura at home is fairly simple; once you know our tips and tricks, you'll be making this appetizer in no time. We love serving it with our quick Ramen, or Teriyaki Tempeh.

Ingredients

Vegan Tempura Batter. For our tempura batter, you'll need all-purpose flour, corn flour, rice flour, cold sparkling water, and salt. A little trick to get the crispiest tempura is to keep the batter cold. We use cold water for that, but you can also place the batter bowl on ice water while using it.

Vegetables. For this recipe, we're using red pepper, sweet potato, oyster mushrooms, and asparagus. This is a combination we like for different textures, colors, and flavors. Adjust the veggies to your taste.

Dipping sauce. We make an easy but delicious dipping sauce using 4 ingredients: soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, and spicy sesame oil. If you prefer a mild version, use regular sesame oil. Also, you can leave the mirin out if you don't have or want to keep the dipping sauce alcohol-free.

Cooking Method

First, once you've chosen the vegetables you're using for your vegetable tempura, wash and cut the vegetables into bite-size pieces. For our recipe, we are using asparagus, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and red pepper. For the asparagus, we only cut the hard bottom part. We slice the sweet potato, leave the mushrooms whole, and cut the red pepper into thick slices.

Combine all the dry ingredients for the tempura batter in a large mixing bowl. Slowly pour in the sparkling water while mixing.

Combine the batter gently, avoiding whisking. It’s fine if you can still see some dry flour pockets in the mixture, making the tempura extra crispy. You may not need to add all the sparkling water, so just add it slowly to get the batter to the right consistency.

You want the batter consistency to be light but thick enough to be able to coat the vegetables, similar to heavy cream.

Heat enough oil using a small pan for deep-frying. When the oil is hot enough (I like using a tiny bit of batter to make sure it bubbles straight away), coat one type of vegetable (for example, all the mushrooms) and transfer them to the oil.

Deep-fry for a couple of minutes until cooked through. Place the cooked vegetables on a paper towel to release the excess oil. Repeat the process with the rest of the vegetables.

Make the dipping sauce by combining all the ingredients using a small serving bowl. You can also add some sesame seeds for texture.

Just as you would get this served at a restaurant, place all the vegetable tempura on a plate and serve them with the dipping sauce while still warm. Tempura fried veggies are always best enjoyed straight after cooking. If you leave them for too long, they’ll get soggy.

Serving Suggestions for Vegetable Tempura

Vegetable tempura is the perfect appetizer to enjoy with your Asian-style meals. We especially like pairing it with our Soba Noodle Salad for summer or serving it with one of our Ramens for winter.

This crispy veggie tempura is always best to eat right after frying it. If you leave it to cool down, it may get soggy. You can leave the batter in the fridge for a few hours and then simply do the coating and frying before serving.

Tips

• Shortcut version. Use store-bought tempura batter. Also, you can use vegetables that involve minimal cutting, such as asparagus, mushrooms, green beans, or broccoli tender stems.
• Make sure you keep the batter cold by using cold sparkling water or placing the batter bowl in an ice bath. Don’t overmix or whisk the batter, as you need some air pockets for the batter to be extra crispy.
• Prepare ahead. You can prepare the batter ahead if you keep it in the fridge. Also, the veggies can be prepared in advanced so you’ll only need to do the frying part when you’re ready to serve the veggie tempura.
• The best tool to make this recipe aTempura frier. Yes, they exist and you can get it!
• Make sure the oil temperature is right before start frying. If your oil is not hot enough, you may end up with soggy and oily veggies, and if the oil temperature is too high, the tempura batter will burn before the veggies cook. Make sure before you start frying by adding a little piece of batter that the oil starts bubbling straight away and that the batter doesn't burn right away.

Other Japanese Appetizers You May Like:

• Air Fryer Edamame
• Agedashi Tofu
• Daikon Radish