Veggie Tempura Sandwichかき揚げバーガー

Veggie Tempura Sandwich

More and more restaurants have started adding “healthy” food choices to their menu the past several years.

That is good.

However, it’s really hard to find “healthy” foods that I like.

I think this is often what happens…

When they are told to make a “healthy” version of their original food, they simply take meat and whatever they think is “unhealthy” out of the original recipe, and serve it as the “healthy” choice.

So they end up with extremely boring and flavorless food…

I’ve seen a “healthy” sandwich that contains a few layers of iceberg lettuce, a few slices of tomato, dried-up sprouts, served with “low-fat” mayo…

This is why I don’t like to use the “h” word, because many people seem to associates the “h——” food with boring and flavorless food.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not claiming that my vege tempura sandwich is a “h——” sandwich.

There is tempura and it’s deep-fried!

But in this sandwich there are lots of vegetables, it’s plenty flavorful, and it’s fun! And it’s mostly plant-based. Personally, this is something I would choose and enjoy eating.

The inspiration for this sandwich came from the soft-shell crab sandwich. I don’t know why. But this vege tempura kind of looks like a crab with carrot “legs” sticking out, doesn’t it (lol)?

Veggie Tempura Sandwich (2 sandwiches)

veggie tempura
– 1/4 onion, sliced
– 1/2 carrot, cut into julienne
– 8 leaves shiso (Japanese basil or 10~12 sweet basil leaves)*optional
– tempura batter (3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup corn starch, 1/4 cup cold water, 4~5 ice cubes)
– canola oil (frying)
– salt
2 whole wheat buns
1 tablespoon mustard
2 leaves romaine lettuce
1/2 tomato, sliced
1/2 avocado, sliced
spicy mayo (mayonnaise, lemon juice, Louisiana hot sauce)1. Add onion, carrot, and shiso (or basil: optional) to the tempura batter. If the batter becomes too watery, add corn starch and flour.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the vege tempura for 3~4 minutes, until crispy and golden brown.
3. Salt the tempura.
4. Spread mustard on the buns.
5. Place lettuce, tomato, avocado, and the tempura on the bottom bun.
6. Serve with spicy mayo.