“Cooking is like life…you learn only when you make mistakes”…Anonymous.
Well, if that is true, I learned a lot today with my first experience with tempeh! I’ve always loved tofu when it’s prepared well and I thought tempeh would be kind of the same. Nope! It was not a pleasant eating experience and hopefully, the problem is with the cook and not the ingredient. More on that coming up.
Today’s lunch was a leftover spinach and mushroom quesadilla from a couple of days ago. I didn’t even heat it up and it was still great! My snack was some leftover carrots and cucumbers that I had served with my Layered Mediterranean Dip earlier in the week. I put a little hot sauce on them and chowed down. I truly think I could eat hot sauce on anything.
So back to my tempeh story….Some of you may be wondering what tempeh even is. I actually had to look it up to see exactly what it was and how it was different from tofu. From what I understand is that tofu is made from condensed soy milk while tempeh is made from fermented soybeans. Tofu is generally flavorless but takes on the flavors of what you are cooking while tempeh has a more nutty flavor.
Since I was new to tempeh, I decided to start with something basic so I read about different ways to cook it and just decided on something simple…a quick marinade and saute. I started with Lightlife Three Grain Tempeh.
This is what is looked like straight out of the package. I scored it all the way across so it could take in more of the marinade and then cut it in to one inch wide strips (kind of like fish sticks).
The marinade was a cup of organic vegetable broth and a tablespoon of soy sauce. I let it marinate for about an hour.
After marinating, I drained it and sautéed on all sides in a tablespoon of olive oil for a total of about 8 minutes.
Once it was cooked, it actually didn’t look that bad. I served it with some home fried potatoes topped with a poached egg, some sliced tomatoes, and a piece of Ezekiel bread toast.
Bottom Line: Minus the tempeh, my meal was pretty great. I added peppers and onions to my potatoes and the addition of the egg made it very filling. As far as the tempeh, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but I think I need to do a little more research before I try again. Please help me out by sharing any of your tried and true tempeh recipes!