Tempeh Tutorial

What have we been up to food wise? Not too much except our garden has made yet more cucumbers which we have successfully given away. I'm so sick of cucumbers! I made soy yogurt, worked on my drunken noodle recipe (not quite there yet) and made a ton of cupcakes. All that work and nothing to really mention...

But we had four (!) Japanese eggplants from our garden of which we gave two away and ate two tonight along with tempeh in sandwich form and I have already posted the recipe here. They were so good I didn't even get to take a picture.

Let's take a moment to talk about tempeh. Tempeh is cooked soy beans that are fermented and sold in a brick form, approximately 1/2" x 3" x 8". It is by far one of my favorite ingredients to use in place of meat in sandwiches or on pizza. It is really versatile and can be seasoned different ways. It does not need to marinate like tofu so you can make it on a whim - which is how I like to cook so it works well for me.

One thing you must remember about tempeh is that it is bitter and really dense when uncooked then turns almost sweet and softens as it warms through. I like to just slice it into 1/8" slices then throw it in a pan with sesame oil and soy sauce and a few tablespoons of water and brown on both sides. I have steamed it then crumbled it - then sauteed it with sesame oil, soy sauce and Italian seasoning and this worked really well on pizza. You just have to remember to cook it long enough and all the way through and preferably brown it. Yum.

We buy ours at whole foods ('ho foods) although I am surprised we don't just make it ourselves since we make everything else.

And amos' cashew carob ice cream rocked. Best yet.