Preparing Tempeh

Date: 16.6.2024 For dinner tonight, I wanted to prepare a couple of Greek Gyros, inspired by Recipetineats. Tofu was an option to use as the main protein content, however, tofu is very soft and wouldn't go well with a wrap of this sort (to my opinion). Therefore, tempeh was the next best thing.

Previously, I attempted to cook tempeh, however, it turned out terrible! It is a very tough soy-based protein, so if it is not cooked properly, then it won't be very tasty.

I read several blogs, saying that you can bake it as is.. Others say you need to steam it. I decided to go with steaming. I did about 20-30 minutes of steaming. Even after 30 minutes, it felt tough! Now I realise that 15 minutes would have been sufficient as later baking makes it softer.

After steaming the tempeh, it was marinated with oregano (1 tsp), yogurt (2 tbsp), lemon juice (1 tbsp), salt (1 tsp) and pepper (1/4 tsp). I allowed it to soak up the marinate for 1 hour before I baked the tempeh. Usually, I would let the marinade soak for 3 hours min, however, as the tempeh was hot and the proteins somewhat denatured from the steaming, I thought that 1 hour was sufficient enough to allow the tempeh to absorb the flavour.

The tempeh was placed in an oven proof dish (trying to conserve the marinate in the dish) and baked for 10 minutes at 220 °C, mixed with the excess marinade and then baked for another 10 minutes.

The tempeh was then used as a chicken substitue in a wrap, with a homemade tzatzkiki and flatbread.

Date updated: 1.7.24 I prepared tempeh for a stir fry. I steamed for only 10 minutes, marinated in a soy dressing for ~30 minutes and then fried with mushroom, onion and steamed broccoli. It was so tasty and had great texture!