Go-To Preparations: Plain Tempeh
Per the request of our farmers’ market customers, we’re sharing some cooking inspiration for our plain tempeh blocks. These are not recipes, per se, but more concepts to get your gears turning.
Happy cooking!
Tempeh tacos.
What are you doing on Tuesday? Get some corn tortillas, cook rice, and pan-fry diced tempeh in a neutral oil. Serve with your favorite accoutrements: fresh salsa, roasted veg, slaw, jalapeno, sour cream, lots of lime and cilantro…you get the idea. Don’t stop there, take it to tostadas, flautas, enchiladas, quesadillas, etc.
Tempeh toast.
A favorite of millennials. Toast some quality bread, like a tasty loaf from the farmers’ market, or a thick slice of brioche. Bake or shallow fry strips of tempeh, season with sea salt. Mash a ripe avocado with salt, olive oil, maybe a little aleppo pepper. Assemble open-faced toast. Top with sauerkraut and microgreens.
Chinese egg noodles with tempeh and kimchi.
Whisk together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger, a little honey or maple syrup, sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Cut your tempeh into triangles, fry, and then toss hot tempeh in sauce. Serve over hot Chinese egg noodles with mushrooms and/or broccoli, kimchi, and maybe a soft-boiled egg.
Tempeh your-favorite salad.
Cooked and chilled marinated tempeh can be used to build lettuce wraps or any kind of salad, like a wedge, chopped, caesar, cobb, etc. For a panzanella salad: marinate wedged tomatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar. Let it sit for a bit, then cook the tempeh in olive oil, let it chill, and toss with marinated tomatoes, fresh croutons (so easy to make your own from stale bread!), and any green like arugula, spinach, or watercress.
Tempeh sambal goreng.
Indonesian-style. Cook tempeh while you’re building a homemade sambal paste on the stove. (Lots of great sambal recipes out there!) Add the cooked tempeh to the paste with a little soy sauce, lime leaves or lemongrass, and the veggies you have on-hand, like green beans, sliced peppers, boiled and cubed potatoes, hearty winter greens, etc. Serve over rice with extra sauce poured on top.
Tempeh fried rice.
Toss diced tempeh cubes in a wok with a decent amount of sesame oil. Set aside. Oil the walk again and build fried rice starting with garlic, ginger, and chopped scallions, and your favorite par-cooked vegetables, even frozen and straight from the freezer (like mixed carrot, corn and peas), mushrooms, maybe some tofu, too. Stir fry then clear a space in the middle to cook whisked egg, then toss in cooked tempeh, a soy-mirin-sesame sauce, and several cups of leftover rice, and wok it up.
When all else fails: marinated tempeh with rice and vegetables.
The simplest and most versatile. Marinate thawed tempeh in any kind of marinade your palate desires: teriyaki, BBQ, peanut sauce, herbed balsamic, etc. as little as 30 minutes before cooking. Bake, stir-fry, air-fry, or grill marinated tempeh and serve with rice, your favorite veggies, and a garnish, like a generous pinch of sesame seeds.