Veggie Tempura And Oven Roasted Ribs Oh My!

For Valentine's day we ordered in a selection of Indian/Thai cuisine.  Nothing was really noteworthy except the tempura shrimp and veggies we had.  I had been thinking about them since and toying with the idea of how hard it would be to make my own.  Well, it turns out it's easy, super easy, ridiculously easy and oh so tasty. This dish happens to be completely Vegan but you could use shrimp, thinly sliced chicken strips, beef or pork.  Really it would be good on anything, it's just a nice light batter that gets really crispy!

First you need to decide what veggies you will use.  I used broccoli, zucchini, and pumpkin.  Some veggies cook really quickly, like zucchini, so it is ready to go as is.  I blanched the broccoli and drained it really well to give it a head start.  I tossed the pumpkin in some oil and roasted it in the oven for a bit to get it going as well.  I also put my oil on first thing so it would be ready when I was.  I don't have a deep fryer so I used a nice heavy bottom pan and canola oil.

Mix up your tempura.  I used this recipe.  I made my own seltzer water using my Soda Stream.  Don't forget the flour (not pictured).

I used chopsticks for mixing and cooking, it is just so much easier and less messy.  This makes such a nice smooth and light batter.  It will be quite runny, that is what you want.

The oil should be nice and hot.  Stick the tip of a chop stick into the oil to test the temperature.  If you see bubbles come out in the oil from the chopstick you are golden.  Start frying in batches.  You don't want to crowd your pot because it will cause the oil temperature to drop and you'll end up with soggy oil logged veggies, not good.  Keep an eye on these.  You can see the batter browning nicely, you will need to be able to turn the veggies over and cook both sides.

I kept a pan in the oven to keep the finished veggies warm and crisp.  They are best served immediately.  There is a dipping sauce that is slightly sweet that we were served when we ordered tempura veggies but I was missing the ingredients to make it so we used soya sauce.  It was delicious.

I served these veggies as a side to my oven roasted pork ribs.  Shout out to my Grandma for teaching me how to make these.  I have since made them my own with my own dry rub.  I get them going about midday if I want them for supper because they need all day in the low oven to get delicious. 

For my rub, I put about 1 tsp of each of the following spices with the exception of the smoked paprika and garlic powder I put 2 tsp of each.  I sprinkle the entire lot all over the ribs and put them in at about 300F for 5-6 hours.  I usually turn them over about halfway through the cooking time. In the last 30 minutes of baking I will slather on my favourite BBQ sauce but it can also just be put on the side for dipping too which is what we usually do.

The spices I used are: seasoning salt, onion powder, chili powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder.  You can use this mix on anything really.  I use this blend for my oven fried chicken (mixed with 1 cup flour) and even potato wedges!

Sorry for the bad photo but don't those look good?!

This was such a satisfying meal.  I would say to be sure to cook the zucchini last because they didn't not hold up in the oven and to cook them really quickly.  They went mushy by the end of the meal.