Have Your Tempura and Eat It Too

For this, I borrowed fellow blogger Ellen Allard's recipe for her Gluten Free Vegan Vegetable Tempura. For the standard tempura recipe, I barely changed it. I have always thought, however, that there was never a good dipping sauce for tempura. The sauce served with it is usually too sweet, and soy sauce is too heavy. So I changed the amount of sweetener in the sauce, and it made a massive difference. The tempura batter is fairly plain on its own, but this is a good recipe for various taste buds, since those who need more flavor can simply use more sauce. But keep in mind that if you are using vegetables, some of them may need to be steamed in advance, since they will not all be thoroughly cooked in the oil. For vegetables, my favorites are sweet potato, zucchini, and mushrooms.

Tempura Batter
1 cup Garbanzo Flour
1/2 cup Arrowroot Starch
1/2 cup White Rice Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
I cup Cold Water
Vegetables, Shrimp, or Tofu
Olive Oil (for frying)

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the garbanzo flour, arrowroot starch, white rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually pour the cold water into the batter, whisking ingredients together.

Pour olive oil into a medium sized saucepan, putting on medium heat, waiting until the oil begins to sizzle a bit. With tongs, pick up prepared pieces of food and dip in the batter, letting the extra batter slide off. Place in oil and turn over when the sides begin to crisp. Pieces will take different amounts of time depending on size, but turn on each side until batter is golden brown. Place finished pieces onto paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

Tempura Sauce
1/4 cup Wheat-Free Tamari
1/4 cup Water
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. grated Ginger
Dash Brown Sugar

Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl and serve with the tempura. Enjoy.