vegansaurus!

EVERYONE: try Alive & Healing’s amazing new tempeh!   »

You know how when you first go vegan you’re totally not into tempeh? It’s like, “WHAT’S THAT SMELL YO?” But then you start being all, “mmm what’s that smell YO BREAK ME OFF A PIECE OF THAT!” Something like that. That was my journey to tempeh lover, I’m obsessed with it now but it took me a good five years as a vegan to be into it and now I’m like, “WTF IS WRONG WITH ME?” I realize it’s that I was brainwashed by my SAD to not think that fresh food tastes delicious and I was an idiot listening to my creepy old brain! Be smart, eat tempeh. I think maybe I also just had some shitty tempeh in my life, like stuff that wasn’t steamed or had been sitting alone in the bulk bins too long, you know? Or a well-meaning friend made me a plain slab of tempeh as an alternative to their meaty entrees. So many mistakes were made.

At its best, tempeh is nutty, meaty, and hella tasty — and Alive & Healing, a new company out of Northern California, knows it. THEIR TEMPEH IS AMAZING. So good, not at all funky tunky (you know what I’m talking about with that tempeh smell!), and just absolutely scrumptious. SCRUMPTIOUS!

I made quite a few things with the insane amounts I purchased, including the tasty sandwich below and MY FAVORITE TEMPEH RECIPE OF ALL TIME, DEBBIE’S TEMPEH. It’s available exclusively in Lisa Jervis’ Cook Food cookbook, which I find to be a kitchen imperative. I adapted the recipe and my version is tasty but not nearly as stellar as the one in the book. If you’re looking for a good cooking basics book that has staple recipes to use and remix for years, Cook Food has your back. Anyway, here’s the pics of some of the yummy things I eat it is great to be me:

I also made a lentil soup with tempeh crumbles, a slow cooker Shepherd’s Pie, and I don’t remember what else — mainly just hella delicious stuff. Alive & Healing is available at lots of S.F. Bay Area stores (and expanding!), you can have it shipped to you (er, or wait, this might only be available in the S.F. Bay Area? I can’t tell for sure!) if you’re outside of the SF Bay Area or you’re very lazy, and they have a Tempeh Club! Which, as soon as I figure out what it is, I’m joining. I think it’s just bulk tempeh delivered to your mouth I’LL TAKE IT. If you’re ready to become a tempeh lover, today is the day, this high-protein tastiness is meant for you and so GIVE IN to tempeh and finally let two become one EW SORRY.

(I’m also counting this as my International Vegan MoFo for the day because tempeh is hella Indonesian THE MORE YOU KNOW. )

How to, yo: Steam tempeh!  »

I like tempeh all right. The first time I ever had it, my friend Krystle made TLTs—tempeh, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches with Veganaise. I wasn’t vegan yet, but after eating her sandwich, I decided it was time to seriously try. I have often told Krystle her TLT was what finally made it me go vegan. It was a gateway sandwich!

When I have tackled the TLT on my own, I noticed that the tempeh soaks up so much of the oil and soy sauce I sauté it in to make bacon. I decided one night, last year, to try steaming my tempeh first. I had skimmed many a recipe that suggested steaming, and it was time to try it.

Turns out it’s easy to do. Seriously, once I started steaming my tempeh first, I began enjoying it so much more. I’ve heard steaming takes some of the bitterness out, but I’ve never noticed a bitter bite to begin with. Plus, when steamed, it soaks up less oil when preparing it afterward.

Yes, steaming does add one extra step, but I’m doing it as I write this post! You can steam anything (vegetables, fermented soy), and do other stuff at the same time! Multitasking!

Ingredients
Tempeh
A steam basket
A pot with a lid
Water

Instructions
Cut up your tempeh into sizes that are desirable for you. Place your steam basket into your pot, and fill pot with water just until it reaches the bottom of the steam basket. Bring water to a boil, place tempeh in steam basket.

To boil the water, I set the stove burner to high, but once the tempeh is in the pot, with the lid on, I turn down the temperature to medium high/medium. Then I let it do its thing for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Lift the cover; your tempeh should be tender and ready for however you like to prepare it! 

Once you’ve steam your tempeh, you can then sautee it or bake it—whatever you usually do. I still like to make myself TLTs, with homemade mayo, of course! I am steaming tempeh today, because I am getting ready to write a battered tempeh taco recipe for you! With a gluten-free version included, of course.

My desire to play around with tempeh was brought on by a recent dinner at Millennium with my roommate, Crystal. We decided to share the Maple-Black Pepper Smoked Tempeh, as neither of us has been the biggest fans of tempeh. We were like, “If we are ever going to have tempeh at its most delectable, it’s going to be here.” We were not mistaken.

Vegan summer Shop-Up NYC!  »

After their wildly successful Spring Shop-Up in April, the awesome folks over at Vegan Shop Up are kicking off the summer season with yet another goodie-laden event!
That’s right, you ravenous vegans! The big event is happening this Sunday, June 19—Father’s Day!—at our mega-favorite vegan watering hole, Pine Box Rock Shop, from 1 to 5 p.m. Featuring everything from hummus to skin care, raw ice cream to kombucha, tempeh to truffles, there will definitely be a little something for everyone. Vendors include Green Pirate fruit and veggie juices, Sprout skin care, Gone Pie baked goods and Pretty Monsters soy candles and balms. Empty Cages Collective will be there reppin’ our animal friends, too! So come on out, enjoy a delicious vegan bloody mary and waffle brunch with Dad, and spend some cold hard cash in support of vegan businesses! OR ELSE!

Veganized for your pleasure: brown sugar bacon buttermilk waffles  »

Why yes, that is rice whip on my waffle. I do not mess around.

I really don’t understand this longstanding bacon obsession in America. And when it got to the point where it was showing up on magazine covers, in chocolate bars, in squeezable formats, and with full-on “trend” status (If one more person tries to get me to eat bacon by saying, “but bacon doesn’t count,” I will have a conniption), I was confused and, yes, hurt. But just because we don’t want gristly bits of dead pig on top of our cupcakes doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the flavorful combination of sweet and smoky, the textural dissonance between chewy and fluffy. Peep this recipe, gag, and then make this bitchin’ and infinitely more animal-friendly version:

Fakin’ Bacon and Buttermilk Waffles
makes four Belgian waffles

Ingredients
“Bacon”
One package or recipe of tempeh “bacon” (I used Tofurky’s)
1/4 cup brown sugar

Waffles
3 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
6 Tbsp. hot water
2 cups soy milk (or whatever other vegan milk you use)
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt 
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla 

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375 F. Spray a cookie sheet with some nonstick. Arrange the pretend bacon in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the strips as evenly as you can. I won’t judge you for licking your fingers. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the sugar has become pretty liquidy. Let it cool, and then chop the sticky strips into little pieces—or break it apart with your hands if you’re nasty (related: I’m nasty).

In a bowl, whisk together the flax seed and hot water till it’s as frothy as your little hands can make it. In another bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar. Watch as it gets all curdled and weird-looking. Okay, focus! Now in a big bowl, sift together your dry ingredients (flour down to salt in the list above). Marvel once more at the crazy milk transformation, and whisk in the flax seed mixture, oil, and vanilla. Pour it all into the dry ingredients, and mix till it’s mostly combined. Then stir in the pretend bacon bits.

Follow your waffle iron’s directions to make as many waffles as possible. Cover it in Earth Balance, maple syrup, jam—whatever you put on waffles. Serve with orange juice, and pretend you’re being healthy. Eat, and slap yo’ mama.
This ain’t no ordinary waffle. As you can see, there’s chewy, savory tempeh bacon in there!

New awesome product: Dragon Lines Tempeh!  »

Last week I put up a tempeh recipe that even tempehphobes are into and we’ve featured In the Mood for Food dinner parties before. NOW TWO WORLDS COLLIDE. OR SOMETHING.

Philip Gelb  & Co. have released a line of artisan tempeh and it’s the best damn tempeh I’ve ever eaten. You don’t even have to steam this stuff before you cook it, it’s already tender and delicious. OH DON’T BELIEVE ME? Well, would you believe MILLENNIUM?* That’s right, Millennium has started serving Dragon Lines Tempeh because it’s so g-d good.

If you want some now, you have to order directly from them. It’s easy, just email and ask how you can get a bunch delivered to your face. You really should because this stuff is truly the best tempeh a person can eat in the entire world and you’re not better than Millennium, okay?

That’s all I got right now. I’m not feeling very writerly today. Or swearly even. I don’t know, maybe I’m dying.

*Also, screw you, I’m hella trustworthy in matters of food.

Recipe: Tempting Tempeh! I know, the name is amazing. Came up with it myself! Believe it!  »

This recipe is actually almost a direct rip-off of one from Lisa Jervis’ STELLAR cookbook, Cook Food (BUY IT). This recipe goes out to everyone who thinks they don’t like tempeh (I too was non-believer at one point! Now I’m straight speaking in tongues on tempeh’s ass!) and for those Vegansaurus editors who are going back to school at Oberlin and need something to cook up for their vegan co-op kitchens. You can eat this right before you have group sex in a hot tub. Bring your banjo and some Rilke and IT’S A PARTY!

AND SO WE BEGIN.

You need:
•    2 8-oz. bags of tempeh
•    1/4 cup nutritional yeast
•    1/3 cup soy sauce (if you can do this half and half with a vegan Worcestershire sauce, all the better! If you’re feeling the co-op love, throw in a spray or two of Braggs animo acids)
•    2 Tbs. onion powder
•    2 Tbs. garlic powder
•    throw in some herbs if you’re feeling fancy
•    couple dashes of paprika if you got it
•    peanut oil to fry in (sesame oil and olive oil work well too!)

You do:
Cut the tempeh into bite-sized pieces and then steam it for about 20 minutes. While it’s steaming, combine all the other ingredients except for the oil. Then take the tempeh out and coat it in your mixture; it should cake on. Fry that shit up in your oil of choice until it’s nice and crispy on all sides. Serve over whatever, probably brown rice if you’re in a co-op. HIPPIES, AM I RIGHT??

Photo from adaenn!