Vegetable Tempura

Free from wheat, dairy, egg and nut

Are you looking for new ways of feeding your young family members veggies without any moans and groans?  Sylvie Hurford has a great recipe from her recipe book More – Allergen Free recipes for whole family

The best veggies to use are:

Raw sweet red pepper, broccoli and avocado

Steamed carrots, butternut, sweet potato and button mushrooms (al dente)

1 cup of rice flour

1 teaspoon of wheat-free baking powder

1 generous pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

1 cup of cold fizzy water

Canola oil, for frying

Whip all the batter ingredients until smooth and frothy, and then place in the fridge for around 30 minutes.

Heat a pan of canola oil, about 7.5cm deep.  As soon as the oil begins to fizz, use a skewer or toothpick to dip the vegetable into the batter – taking as much of the batter as you can with the veggie.  Toss it into the boiling oil immediately and leave until pale golden brown – do two or three veg at a time.

Place on a greaseproof paper and serve.

4 heaped teaspoons of sugar, xylitol or fructose

1 wheat-free chicken stock cube or 1 tablespoon of stock powder dissolved in 2/3 cup of water *

1 teaspoon of raspberry or red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of cornflour

Heat the ingredients in a saucepan until the sauce has a slightly opaque appearance and gluey texture, ready for dipping.

* Note:  Some stock powders have maltodextrin in them which can be wheat, corn, or rice based. However, be rest assured – maltodextrin is gluten free, even when it is made from wheat. The processing that wheat starches undergo in the creation of maltodextrin renders it gluten-free. Therefore the source does not matter because maltodextrin is such a highly processed ingredient that the protein is removed, rendering it gluten free. Plus, if wheat is used to make maltodextrin, “wheat” will appear on the label. This might give you a pause, but even in this case, the maltodextrin would be gluten free.