Have any good suggestions for cooking Tempeh?

[crazycanuck]

I have some & am now unsure what type of dish to make with it...

Any suggestions would be great

[KnottedYet]

I love tempeh!

My favorite way to cook it is ridiculously simple: marinate it a few hours or overnight in a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic. (My tempeh comes in planks, and I cut the plank into serving sizes - about the size of a hamburger patty - before I marinate it) Dump everything into a well-oiled cast iron pan, and fry both sides of the tempeh until well browned. The marinade will cook down, you can make a sauce of it if you like.

I eat the tempeh patties plain, or cold and crumbled onto a salad, or served on a bed of rice with a sauce made from the marinade. It's also nice refried in a pan and served with eggs-over-easy for breakfast.

[shootingstar]

Like you (don't be surprised) crazycanuck, I haven't used tempeh yet for cooking, though have had it in restaurants.

[OakLeaf]

I like to put it in Thai-style curry. Some store-bought Thai curry paste (either red or green), coconut milk, red bell pepper, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, whatever other vegetables, and tempeh cut in bite-sized pieces - served with jasmine rice.

Then there's a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking for bite-sized tempeh pieces coated in spices and deep-fried. It could be a snack food or a main dish. Unfortunately I don't have the recipe here and haven't made it enough times to know it by heart. But it's really good, if you can find the book in the library or whatever.

Then there's gado-gado, the Indonesian dish that was in one of the popular vegetarian cookbooks back in the day - simple steamed tempeh and green beans with a spicy peanut sauce. I don't have a favorite recipe for that one either, but there are lots of recipes online - google "Indonesian tempeh green beans" or "gado-gado."

[Susan Otcenas]

The Turtle Island Foods website has a tempeh chili recipe that I've made a bunch of times. Very easy and very tasty!

[crazycanuck]

Hmm..The Gado Gado idea might be suitable...My former (lovely Indonesian/Aust woman) co-worker made some & lurvved it. I even have some of her peanut sauce in our freezer.

Tanks!

[arielmoon]

Try steaming it a few minutes before you marinate or cook with it. It seems to open it up for the sauces to be adsorbed!

[mirliluck]

Mmm! MMM! I love me some tempeh!

I also get it in the planks and cut into 1 inch pieces, then cut those in half so the slices are a bit thinner. I use a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce, and apple cider vinegar then pan fry until browned. It is tangy!