Low Fat Vegan Cooking

Baked Tempura with Tentsuyu Dipping Sauce

I loved tempura, i mean i seriously loved it.  But for some reason i never tried to make it.  I am a little daunted by hot oil, and the fact that once used, it really is too rancid to use again, so it is actually not that much more expensive to eat tempura at a restaurant – and a lot less work… until now.  Baked tempura only has as much fat as flour and vegetables naturally have (most are 10% or less).  It costs no more than any other ordinary dinner.  And it only takes about 45 minutes to make, and another 30 – 40 minutes to bake.

I avidly read Vegan Yum Yum, and it was Lauren’s post on tempura that started me thinking that maybe i could:

 a) make it myself and more importantly

 b) make it low fat.

 It did take a few trials, but i am happy with my baked tempura now and completely satisfied with the lack of oil.

I cannot find the other main recipe i looked at from a Google search.  It doesn’t seem to be there anymore.  In it, a young man made tempura following his Japanese mother’s recipe, and he had several good hints to make it better.  It was from his photos that i realized that the batter could be thin, which makes a big difference if you are not frying it.

The amount of vegetables i list is all that will fit on two shelves in my oven.  If you want to make this for more than two people, and you don’t have two ovens, you might want to include more dishes such as miso soup and sushi.

Kombu is a kind of kelp which makes a nice broth.  You might be able to find it in the International or Japanese section of a large grocery store, or in an Asian market.  You might also look for a vegan dashi powder or broth.  Dashi is traditionally made with tuna, though.  Wakame is another seaweed that makes good broth.  I don’t like kelp powder as well as kombu, but that might be a last resort for you.  Or, using just ½ c. water, just make the sauce without the seaweed.  It will be different, but still should be pretty good.

It works best when you prepare tempura for the vegetables to be quite dry and room temperature.  You can get them out of the refrigerator and wash them 2 –  4 or so hours before you are going to slice them up.  Dry them off with a dish towel and lay them out to warm up and dry out further.  The young man’s mother put the vegetables to dry in a window in the sun.

I tried tempura with whole wheat flour, but like the rice flour combination better.  It is not as heavy, and of course my husband can eat it.

Wasabi is another possible dip, either instead of Tentsuyu or in addition to it.

Baked Tempura

Makes about 2 large or 4 small servings

Preparation about 45 minutes

Best eaten immediately after baking!  In fact, it’s best to have people sitting at the table before you take it out of the oven.  You could serve them some miso soup and/or sushi while the vegetables finish baking.

If you do have to reheat the tempura, an oven is better than a microwave, as it keeps the vegetables dry and crisp.  But i have not always followed my own advice.

Have Ready:

4 – 6 c. cooked brown rice

The Tentsuyu sauce:

2 inches kombu

1 c. water

2 T. sake

2 T. low sodium tamari

1 T. sugar

The Vegetables:

2 small sweet potatoes

1 medium red peppers

1 carrot

1 c. green beans

1 stalks broccoli

6 (or more) mushrooms

The Batter:

1 c. cold water

¾ c. brown rice flour

¼ c. tapioca flour

1 T. Ener-G egg Replacer

½ t. salt (optional)

Start with the sauce.  Put the kombu in 1 c. water and cook for about 20 minutes until it is reduced by half.  I keep a measuring cup nearby and check every five minutes after 20 minutes.

Add the sake and boil 5 minutes.

Add the tamari and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. 

Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375&deg.

Next, slice the vegetables.  Since they are all baking at the same time, you need to slice the denser vegetables thinner than the others, so slice the yams about 1/4^th inch and the mushrooms just cut in half, while the red pepper needs to be about ½ inch.  Cut the broccoli into florets and then slice each in half or fourths, depending on their size.  Cut off the stem end of the green beans and otherwise leave them whole.

Bake about 3o minutes and then check every 5 minutes to see if they are tender.  I have held the vegetables in the oven with the oven turned off for 20 minutes without them burning.

Make the batter in a large bowl.  You need a little more batter than you will be able to use, so you can coat each vegetable slice.  If you can’t stand to waste anything, you can pour the remaining batter into a non-stick skillet and cook it and eat it like a pancake.

Prepare two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Dip a handful of vegetables into the batter, leaving the broccoli for last as the tiny green flowers come off and get in the batter.  If you want to make a splendid presentation, dip each different kind of vegetable separately and place them together on the baking sheets. Dunk the vegetables with a slotted spoon so they are completely covered.  Lift the spoon up over the bowl and let it drip for about 20 seconds.

Carefully lay the battered vegetables on the baking sheet.  They can touch but they shouldn’t overlap.  Make sure no two slices are sticking together.

When you have dipped and spread out all the vegetables, bake for 30 to 40 minutes until they are tender.

Serve immediately with warm brown rice and Tentsuyu.  You might want to arrange them on a platter by vegetable type, or on individual plates with a cup or so of rice in one corner and the Tentsuyu in a little bowl in the middle of the plate.  Or you can jumble them all together and let each bite be something of a surprise.

I went in a different direction than the Japanese theme with the dessert i made for this night, but you might want to try a soy green tea ice cream or mangos are always good, or a combination of tropical fruit, maybe with some chopped pickled ginger. I add that to fresh fruit now and then for an interesting taste juxtaposition.  The Japanese are wild about melons, especially, it seems, honeydews, so you might want to have that as a dessert.  I once had some exquisite honeydew ice cream in Japan, but i think it must have had dairy in it.  But, hmm, it wouldn’t have to have dairy, would it?

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – if you make two large servings:  521 calories/14.9 g protein (11.5%)/2.6 g fat (4.4%)