Using tempeh in your recipes

Fresh tempeh has a nice mushroom and nutty flavor, but in recipes it easily absorbs the flavors of other ingredients. Tempeh is often marinated before cooking to give it a stronger and more savory flavor. Tempeh can be used in typical Indonesian recipes as well as in Western cooking. For example, you can replace all or part of the meat in your favorite recipe with tempeh.

Cooking methods

In Indonesia, tempeh is fried in vegetable oil until golden brown and crispy. But you can also use it in other ways: boiling, steaming, baking, microwaving, stir-frying, or grilling.

Cutting tempeh

Tempeh is very convenient in that you can cut it in different ways: slices, cubes, or crumbles. You can cut tempeh into thick slices or very thin slices. The thinner the slices, the easier they are to fry into crispy tempeh, but the more oil they will absorb. Tempeh can be cut into cubes of any size and then fried, stir-fried, or boiled. Because of its firm texture, tempeh is very easy to grate in a food processor or on a cheese grater. If you use a food processor, the texture of the tempeh will be similar to ground meat. Grated tempeh is an easy way to introduce soy nutrients to people who enjoy meat. Using half tempeh and half ground beef in burgers and sauces retains the meaty flavor but adds the health benefits of soy.

Marinating tempeh

A simple marinade is water mixed with soy sauce, lemon juice, ground pepper, cilantro, and crushed garlic. You can add other ingredients such as vinegar, rice wine, pineapple juice, barbecue sauce, mustard, tamarind, lemongrass, ginger, and lemon peel. Dice or slice the tempeh and marinate for 1 to 4 hours to absorb the flavors.