The Creative Process (Meets Tempeh)

We're not vegetarians in our house (though I used to be for a few years).  But we love variety, and the occasional vegetarian meal fits in with that love.  That said, the way I cook usually starts from one ingredient.  I'll pick up the usual pantry items at the grocery store and then get a few inspirational ingredients, usually things I haven't had for awhile.  This trip I picked up tempeh.  If you're not a vege, you've probably never heard of it--it's even "weirder" than tofu.  To fill you in, it's a vegan protien source made from fermented soybeans.  In that way it's like tofu, but instead of a smooth uniform texture, the beans are roughly chopped and pressed together in a slab.  The kind I got this time has added grains: rice, barley, and millet.  Those are just some extras added to this particular variety, not part of the basic recipe.  I read that grains are sometimes added to cut the strong flavor of tempeh.

Once I've got my ingredient motivation, I'll check out the indices of my favorite general cookbooks: Rombauer's The Joy of Cooking and recently Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  I was shocked in this case to find tempeh in Joy and not TCE.  Mark Bittman usually mentions every ingredient at least in passing, but nothing in this case.  Joy had two recipes: a moo shu and a cold noodle dish.  I wasn't interested in either this time.  So, the next step is to do a few website searches.  My go-to's are Food Network, Epicurious, and All Recipes (although, this one can be unreliable; you MUST read and take into account the reviews for every recipe).  But in the case of a vegetarian meal, I'm all about Super Natural Recipes.  It was there that I searched "tempeh" and saw a recipe for Tempeh Reubens.

This is the point at which my creative drive really kicks in.  Once I've found what I want to make, I don't stop.  I find several other versions of the recipe and either pick my favorite or take what I like from each and make my own.  That's it, then I cook.  This time I was a bit dissatisfied that all these vegetarian recipes didn't even try to give the tempeh typical corned beef flavor, so I actually looked up what spices go into the "pickling spice" that is synonymous with corned beef and made a little brine/marinade.  And I bring you:

Tempeh Reubens
makes 2 sandwiches
   1 cup water
   1/4 cup soy sauce
   1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar
   1/4 cup brown sugar
   1 tablespoon mustard seeds
   1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)
   1 tablespoon minced garlic
   half a cinnamon stick (just snap it in half)
   4 whole cloves
   8 ounces tempeh, cut into 1/4" slices
   oil to coat the bottom of your frying pan
   1/4 to 1/2 cup sauerkraut, drained
   alfalfa sprouts or lettuce, rinsed and dried
   1 tomato, sliced
   sliced swiss cheese
   Russian dressing or mayo and grainy mustard
   rye or whole grain bread, sliced and toasted if you like it that way

1.  In a sauce pan mix the water, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, caraway seeds, garlic, cinnamon, and cloves.  Bring to a boil, simmer about 10 minutes, then remove from heat and cool.  Add tempeh and allow to marinate at least 30 minutes, up to several hours, refrigerated.  Turn in the marinade a few times.

2.  Blot dry the tempeh with paper towels (will prevent excessive splattering).  Heat oil over medium heat and fry the tempeh on both sides until crisped, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove to paper towel lined plate.

3.  Assemble the sandwiches with the tempeh and remaining ingredients.

As a bonus, I'll tell you my secret recipe for coleslaw.  This is coleslaw for people who have never liked coleslaw.  I'm not kidding.  I'm very picky about my slaw and Jeremy has been a life-long slaw-phobe.  The thing is, I LOVE cabbage.  It has that great spicy-bitterness and is loaded with fiber and vitamins (including B vitamins which can be hard for vegans to get, take note).  So, it's great for you, it tastes good, AND it's cheap--all very good reasons for getting it in your belly in any way possible.  That's why it appears TWICE in this meal (see sauerkraut above).  /End cabbage rant.  Anyway, my coleslaw is pink.  It's not a gimmick, it just has to be, given the secret ingredient.  Trust me, this is good stuff.

Pink Slaw
serves 4-6
Dressing:
   1/4 cup mayonnaise
   1/4 cup balsamic vinegar*
   1/2 teaspoon celery salt**
   kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
   +/- 2 teaspoons of sugar
Slaw:
   1/2 small head of green cabbage, shredded
   1/2 small head of purple cabbage, shredded
   1/2 large sweet onion, grated

Mix the dressing, tasting as you add sugar until it's just right for you.  Toss it with the vegetables.  Chill at least 30 minutes and serve with Tempeh Reubens.  If you're going to a barbecue and are charged with bringing a salad, you can easily double this to serve 10-12.

*That's it.  That's the secret.  The flavor the balsamic gives is awesome and cannot be substituted.  If you don't want your slaw to be pink, you can try using "white balsamic."  I've gotten it at Trader Joe's and it's good.  BUT, the flavor is not nearly as intense as the regular old garnet-colored stuff, so I recommend just accepting that Pink Slaw is the best slaw.

**Celery salt is the runner-up secret ingredient.  Don't skip it.  Besides, it's one of my favorite spices, so you'll see it in future recipes.  :)  It's worth having in the cabinet.