Crispy Onion & Carrot Kakiage (Gluten-Free Vegetable Tempura)
Kakiage is tempura's more relaxed cousin: instead of battering vegetables one piece at a time, you toss shredded vegetables in batter and fry them in loose, lacy clusters. This version uses only rice flour, potato starch and cold water, so it's vegan and gluten-free without any substitutions — and rice flour fries up noticeably crisp.
The carrot tops are the part worth trying. They taste a bit like parsley and bring an herbal note that plays well against the sweetness of the onion and carrot. Eat the fritters hot with a pinch of salt, or set one on top of a bowl of soba or udon.
Ingredients
- Sweet onionthinly sliced1.75 oz
- Carrotcut into 2-inch (5 cm) matchsticks1.75 oz
- Carrot tops (greens)or flat-leaf parsley1 oz
- Neutral oil for fryingas needed
Batter
- Rice flourscant 1/2 cup
- Potato starch (katakuriko)or cornstarch3 Tbsp
- Ice-cold waterscant 1/2 cup
Nutrition
per serving🛒 Ingredient notes & substitutions
Carrot tops: Flat-leaf parsley gives a similar fresh, herbal note. If your carrots come without greens, you can also just leave them out.
Sweet onion: The original uses Japanese spring onions (shin-tamanegi). Vidalia or any sweet onion is closest; a regular yellow onion works too.
Potato starch: Cornstarch works the same way in the batter.
Tempura dipping sauce (tentsuyu): Most bottled tentsuyu is made with bonito (fish) dashi — check the label, or simply serve with salt.
Instructions
Wash the carrot tops well, dry them thoroughly, and cut into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths. Cut the carrot into 2-inch (5 cm) matchsticks and thinly slice the onion.
Put the vegetables in a bowl, sprinkle over the rice flour and potato starch, and toss until every piece is coated.
Add the cold water a little at a time, mixing just until a thin batter clings to the vegetables.
Heat the oil to medium frying temperature. Drop in bite-size rounds of the mixture and fry about 2 minutes per side, until crisp.
Drain and serve right away with salt for sprinkling, or with tempura dipping sauce.
Tips
Coat the vegetables thoroughly with the dry flours before any water goes in — that's what gives you an even, clean coating instead of batter sliding off in the oil.
Keep the batter thin. A light coating fries up crisp and airy; a thick one turns heavy.
Rice flour is measured by volume here, as in the original recipe: half a Japanese cup, which is 100 ml (a little under a US 1/2 cup).