Oh man tempeh is awful to me. I went vegan and I love tofu, I'm Latin American so I love beans, and there's lots of other great stuff but I dunno why I thought tempeh was terrible when I tried it.
I like the meat substitutes they sell now. I have loved Bologna since I was a kid and I thought I'd miss it till I found vegan Bologna that tastes exactly the same. Hot dogs as well.
@idiomaddict@jo3rn it’s easy for sure to have a bad tempeh meal – i’ve had lots if them! my favorite preparations now have been fresh tempeh in indonesian-like recipes. also, homemade tempeh “bacon” with avocado on anything
Well yeah, but it’s not smooth like tofu, there’s still chunks of bean that don’t get fully softened, but also don’t stay fully crunchy. It’s similar to the texture of stir-fried cashews (just held together), which I’m not a fan of.
Unless I’ve only had bad tempeh, which is very possible: I first had it in my college dining hall and I’ve only tried it once or twice since.
I do mine at about 5mm or 1/4 inch. After slicing you can also marinade them in lightly salted water. Just make sure that it is dried well before frying.
You can even try them dipped in a simple batter. I prefer the plain fried ones though. Crisp on the outside. Goes well with rice dishes.
@idiomaddict@Nuke_the_whales it pays to chase down good tempeh. Here in Australia the supermarket tempeh is very bland. Buy from a producer at a market, or from an Asian grocery.
You can also make it yourself! Nothing like fresh tempeh.
The best tempeh I've had was when it's cooked with sauce, onions, and peppers, then put on a sandwich to make, essentially, a vegan cheesesteak. i was vegatarian at the time so it had feta on it, but it'd be great with fake cheese.
I think tempeh is hard to cook with if you're not used to it. I cut out most of any acidic ingredient if I'm cooking with tempeh because it tastes pretty acidic already imo, but I hated it before I figured that out