Make 2015 the year of TEMPEH. After all, fermented foods are all the rage--so why not TEMPEH, too? Joe Yonan, the food & dining editor of the Washington Post wants to change all that & has delivered a strong argument for bringing TEMPEH to the head of the table--& hes provided some creative recipes to help that happen. (Thanks, Cindy G.) Delicious Curried Tempeh-Mango Salad Sammiches, from Vegan with a Vengeance (Isa Chandra Moskowitz, pg. 100), was my first experiment with tempeh. I made them often, then my oldest son adopted it for Saturday lunches. Then I let it go because it uses Vegannaise, which I stopped using. Time to bring that recipe back again--with cashew cream instead of the Vegannaise--& it only needs 3 TBS! Almost nothing. tinyurl/p68j525 Gotta a favorite tempeh recipe? Please let me know--I trust your recommendations over Joe Yonans. I know YOU much better. Heres an excerpt for the Wash Post article: “Tempeh, tofu and seitan are the holy trinity of the vegan diet,” according to Bart Potenza of NYC’s Candle Cafe. “But tempeh is the best.” Fermentation makes tempeh quite possibly the most nutritious, digestible form of soy around. It’s also one of the least-processed, using the whole bean (as opposed to tofu, made from soy milk). Fermentation reduces soy’s high levels of phytic acid, a substance that hinders the body’s ability to absorb minerals. [yes, I know, according to Dr. Michael Greger, physic acid isnt such a thing after all] Tempeh was born on the island of Java, Indonesia, at least several centuries ago (and possibly longer ago than that), for the same reason virtually all fermented products came to be: as a method of preservation. At least in this month of resolutions and recovery, tempeh should be on your agenda. And it doesn’t need to taste like punishment. Tempeh has much more than nutrition to recommend it, including an earthy, slightly bitter, even somewhat sweet flavor and a firm, nutty texture, giving it more character than tofu will ever possess. Yet, like tofu, it can be a chameleon, soaking up more flavor from marinades and sauces, which makes it surprisingly versatile. With all that rich culture behind it, why hasn’t tempeh caught on in the United States? For starters, tofu has been around a lot longer--brought to the U.S. by Asian immigrants. Tempeh has a much shorter history & a smaller core audience--with the first U.S. commercially made tempeh appearing in 1978--and it was familiar only to Indonesians. Another obstacle to tempeh awareness might be its appearance. Some tempeh (from such brands as Lightlife, Tofurky and WestSoy) might have some black spots visible through the plastic, putting off potential buyers who wrongly think it’s spoiled, when in fact those spots are a natural byproduct of the fermentation process. [I admit it--those black spots always put me off. Nice to know its nothing to worry about. Thanks, Joe!]
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:18:47 +0000
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