Tempeh... who else loves it?

[ohmyganache]

I have recently discovered how awesome tempeh is, and I was wondering who else love it and what do you do with it???

I have recently breaded and fried it (then covered it with gimmie lean sausage gravy), seared and simmered in a thai sauce...

What else do people do with tempeh???

Edited August 7, 2005 by ohmyganache (log)

[helenjp]

I usually use it in packed lunches, so I go for speed and impact rather than refinement, I'm sorry...usually panfried till crispy in a little sesame oil, then a quick swish of vinegar or lemon juice and soy sauce and some chili paste.

[foodie52]

Panfried til crispy then into a tortilla with veggies and chipotle aioli.

[munchymom]

I cut it into small cubes, steam for 20 minutes, let cool and use it as a substitute for chicken in chicken salad recipes - my favorite is curry mayonnaise with apples and raisins.

[beccaboo]

I cut it into fingers, marinate it for a while in something that'll go with the rest of dinner, then fry till crispy. I also use it in place of the meat for 'spag no-bol' (my daughter's favorite spaghetti).

[Jinmyo]

I find that tempeh works best deep-fried (though pan-fried is okay) and served in a Southeast Asian context of flavours.

It can't really substitute for something else as nothing else tastes like it and it tastes just like itself and nothing else.

I've steamed it and found it dreadful and so did everyone I served it to. I've poached it and found it dreadful and so did everyone I served it to.

But it's not terrible deep-fried. Eh.

[Behemoth]

Fried is the way to go.

Here are two ways I like to have it:

1) cut into thin slices, fried with onions and garlic until crisp, and eaten with russian dressing & saurkraut on rye as a fake rueben.

2) mashed up with potato and formed into patties, pan fried and served with sweet-hot tomato chutney.

[deensiebat]

mmm tempeh reubens...

my default tempeh treatment is to cut it into fingers or cubes, marinate in whatever i have on hand (usually a mix of soy sauce, garlic, lime juice or balsamic vinegar, sometimes ginger, rooster sauce, a touch of maple syrup/raw sugar, sometimes sesame seeds or scallions), and pan fry until crispy on the edges. this is also my default tofu marinade (i should probably branch out someday).

i'm also fond of a tempeh sausage recipe adapted from the farm hippie cookbook: grate the tempeh coarsely (the recipe said to steam first, which i sometimes do), then mix with pressed garlic, minced sage leaves, soy sauce, a bit of cumin, and enough flour (and water) to bind it together (usually a few spoonfuls each). on my last batch i added an impromptu sprinkling of asafoetida, which gave it a nice edge/depth. shape into patties and pan fry.

[Jinmyo]

I think it's best to steam or poach tempeh before using it in this kind of sausage mixture. Unlike tofu, which is all ready to go as is, raw tempeh can cause some bad "stomach" problems and pan-frying might not do enough to cook it through.

Instead of flour, might bread crumbs not do?

[Pan]

Tempeh is really good when fried do that one side is crispy. I don't think I've cooked with it, but my father used to fairly often make a delicious Indonesian recipe that included tempeh, peanut butter, sweet soy sauce (kicap manis), bean sprouts, crispy fried shallots, I think scallions, and hot pepper. I don't have the complete recipe handy, but I really recommend looking into Indonesian tempeh recipes, because to date, I've never had any tempeh dishes that were as good as Indonesian ones.

[petite tête de chou]

I've used tempeh as a burrito and taco filling. Crumbled and fried with onions, red bell peppers, garlic, jalapenos and cumin with a few squirts of lime and chopped cilantro at the end.

[scovilleFiend]

The taco filling is definitely a great suggestion, and I often eat it that way.

Usually I stir fry it first and then I'll add other stuff to the wok. A lot of the time I'll stir fry it with cumin, or whatever I am in the mood for. I also find that marinade can make it even tastier, though it is not nearly as greedy as tofu is. Didi Emmons has a wonderful recipe that pairs stir fried tempeh with pickled red onions in a taco format, it is extremely good and very quick.

[Malawry]

In my vegetarian days, I pan-fried till crispy and either used it for the reuben Behemoth mentioned above, or more often coated it lightly with BBQ sauce and ate it with slaw on toasted wheat bread for a wonderful lunch.

[markemorse]

Wanted to bump this thread, considering that the last post was 4 years ago, and tempeh has become a tiny bit more mainstream since then...

I really love tempeh, but, as so many others mentioned above, only fried (and sadly, most often with ketchup!). For me, there's absolutely a specific color it has to get to in order to taste "cooked":

Any lighter in color, and its taste remains thoroughly incompatible with most seasonings for me.

But: I would definitely like to eat it more often....just not constantly fried. Has anyone developed any non-fried techniques that really work? I tried a long marinade and bake approach last week, and it wasn't bad but the texture was kind of useless.

Edited July 22, 2009 by markemorse (log)

[Chufi]

By some weird coincedence, I was looking at this recipe about 15 minutes ago.

I realize it's no answer to your question because in that recipe, the tempeh is also fried.

I just feel that it needs to be mentioned here because 'chipotle marinated tempeh' sounds so good.

Anyway, on topic: would roasting cubes of tempeh in a very hot oven work?

[Chufi]

Just thought of another thing.. I haven't used my stovetop smoker in a while. I'm thinking smoked tempeh would be pretty good.

[markemorse]

By some weird coincedence, I was looking at this recipe about 15 minutes ago.

I realize it's no answer to your question because in that recipe, the tempeh is also fried.

I just feel that it needs to be mentioned here because 'chipotle marinated tempeh'  sounds so good.

Anyway, on topic: would roasting cubes of tempeh in a very hot oven work?

←

I'll try the chipotle-marinated thing tonight (to be cooked tomorrow), I've got everything for it already....

And regarding smoking it? Sounds awesome, especially if we deep-fry after it's smoked. Actually there could be something to this, considering all of the recipes I see for BBQed tempeh....

Edited July 22, 2009 by markemorse (log)

[markemorse]

Just made the 101 Cookbooks marinade Chufi was talking about above. The marinade's great, we'll see how the tempeh is tomorrow.

[markemorse]

Just made the 101 Cookbooks marinade Chufi was talking about above. The marinade's great, we'll see how the tempeh is tomorrow.

←

And the verdict is...very good, it's a keeper with the one caveat described below.

General notes: as expected, I certainly miss the crispy bits of texture that fried tempeh gives you, but the taste here is that of cooked tempeh, none of the gummy metallicness of uncooked tempeh. And the flavor is very good, perfectly spicy. This would probably be very good on the sandwich for which it was originally intended.

Caveat: one thing to consider is that if you cook it at the temp specified in the recipe (medium-high) for 3-4 minutes per side, you will almost definitely unpleasantly blacken your tempeh due to the sugar in the marinade. So, either saute it a bit slower and more carefully, or I might also think about leaving the sugar out of the marinade and glazing the tempeh at the end with it.

Edited July 23, 2009 by markemorse (log)

[Chufi]

I did the ´smoke your own tempeh´ experiment this weekend with my little stovetop smoker. It was a great success.. details here!

[DanM]

I enjoy tempeh, but I don't get a chance to eat it that often as my wife cannot stand the stuff. It does make a killer ruben!

Dan

[KristiB50]

I've made the aforementioned tempeh tomato sandwich and it was a hit.

I have some favorite tempeh recipe's.

THIS one is also from 101 Cookbooks.

THIS one is from Cooking Light Magazine and is the one I make the most.

[ShaneH]

I've actually never fried tempeh but that sounds great! What I generally do is break it up into little pieces by hand into some chicken stock and simmer it for about 30 minutes or so and it takes up flavour that way. Meanwhile I'll cut up some tomatoes, onions, spices and make a quick sauce in a skillet when it's done I'll add the strained tempeh to it and mash an avocado and lemon juice into the sauce off the heat. Pour it over angel hair pasta and everyone thought it was some chicken dish. I've made that dozens of times and tried variations of simmering the tempeh in other things and adding it to stews or soups as well.