Baked Tempura Veggies with Dipping Sauces and Quick Pickles

Print

Baked Tempura Veggies with Dipping Sauces and Quick Pickles

While not traditional, this method for baked tempura-style vegetables is an easy and delicious way to prepare vegetables with lots of crunch and texture. The dipping sauces and quick-pickled cucumbers add great flavors to every bite!

Ingredients

For the veggies:

  • 3 - 4 cups vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, mushrooms, green beans, and zucchini, sliced about ¼” thick
  • ¾ cup white rice flour, plus ¼ cup for coating
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ cup cold/refrigerated sparkling water, plus more if needed
  • ½ cup gluten-free panko bread crumbs, plus more if needed
  • 1 – 2 Tablespoons canola oil or other neutral oil with high smoke point

For the Soy Maple Dipping Sauce:

  • 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
  • 4 teaspoons maple syrup, or other sweetener of choice
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 
  • 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 fresh spring onion (greens only) or chives, thinly sliced

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well and serve. Store (covered) in refrigerator up to one week.

For the Mustard and Mirin Dipping Sauce:

  • 1 ½ teaspoons mustard powder
  • 3 Tablespoons mirin
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil 
  • 1 teaspoon ume plum vinegar 
  • 2 Tablespoons honey, or sweetener of choice
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional), plus more to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well and serve. Cover and store in refrigerator for up to one week.

For the Quick-pickled Cukes:

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine:

  • 3 – 4 mini cucumbers, thinly sliced into rounds or half moons.
  • 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Pinch of red chili flakes (optional)

Microwave vinegar mixture for 30 seconds or until warm, but not steaming. Stir warm mixture until sugar and salt dissolve, then add sliced cucumbers and stir well to coat. Set aside at room temperature for 20 – 30 minutes before serving or cover and refrigerate for up to four days.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Prepare veggies by cleaning, trimming, and slicing them. Peeling is optional. Cover with a damp paper towel or keep in a covered container so they don’t dry out. This is key to ensuring that the rice flour and batter adhere to the vegetables. Refrigerate vegetables until ready to use.

For the batter, mix ¾ cup rice flour, salt, and ¾ cup cold sparkling water until smooth. Rest the batter for 30 minutes in the refrigerator prior to use. Note: Batter may thicken as you dip the flour-coated vegetables. If this happens, just add more cold sparkling water, a Tablespoon at a time, and re-mix batter until smooth again. Repeat as needed.

Place additional ¼ cup white rice flour on a small plate for coating the vegetables prior to battering them. Add more flour as needed.

Place ½ cup breadcrumbs on a larger plate. Add more as needed. First, toss sliced vegetables in the dry rice flour to coat. Then, dip flour-covered vegetables in batter, allowing excess batter to drip off for a light, even coat. Finally, toss battered vegetables in breadcrumbs. Turn and pat the vegetables with your hand to coat completely.

Place crumb-coated vegetables on oiled baking rack, leaving about 1” between pieces. Bake for 10 minutes. Then, rotate pans and bake for an additional 8 - 10 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Vegetables should be “al dente” versus mushy. The crumb coating should be very light (versus dark brown).

Serve warm with dipping sauces and pickled cucumbers.

Store any leftover baked tempura vegetables in a sealed container and refrigerate. To reheat, place vegetables on a baking pan, and bake in a pre-heated 350°F oven until warm – about 5 minutes or so.

Notes

For a more traditional preparation, you can also shallow-fry the veggies. 

Ingredients

  • 3 - 4 cups sliced vegetables (same as above)
  • ¾ cup white rice flour, plus ¼ cup for coating
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ cup cold/refrigerated sparkling water, plus more if needed
  • Canola oil or other neutral oil with high smoke point, for frying

Instructions

Pour 1.5” of canola (or other neutral oil with a high smoke point) in your pan. Heat oil over medium heat until it reaches 350°F. Monitor hot oil closely at all times.

Meanwhile, follow the directions above for preparing and breading the veggies.

Once the oil is hot, use tongs to add pieces of the breaded veggies. Keep pieces from touching so they don't stick together. If oil begins to spatter, briefly remove the pan from heat until oil temperature drops a bit. Cook only a few pieces at a time (4-6, depending on pan size). This will help keep the oil temperature from dropping too much.

Fry vegetables for 2 - 3 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your liking. They should still be “al dente” versus mushy, and very light gold in color.

Place cooked vegetables on a paper towel-lined baking pan topped with a baking rack to absorb any excess oil. To reheat the fried tempura vegetables before serving, place the pan into a pre-heated 200°F oven for a few minutes.

Serve and store leftovers the same as described above.