Orange-Glazed Tempeh

ladies and gents!

Hope everyone is having a fine summer. I have been keeping myself very busy with the bakery, but have also managed to find the time to keep cooking. Last night, my neighbor Stef and our friend Katie (or Kate, as I have recently decided to call her) came by my apartment for our traditional Tuesday-night meal. It was lovely, as usual, and full of fun things like girl-talk; and of course, good food. Stef made a fabulous roasted vegetable orzo dish, and I made orange-glazed tempeh with a side of kale (this vegetable is growing on me). Kate brought a fabulous Mexican Chocolate pudding! Sadly, I have no photos of the kale, the pudding or of Stef's dish, but I do have some shots of the tempeh.




My orange-glazed tempeh recipe is really just me getting experimental, so bear with me if the measurements are a little wonky. Yeah, I said it, wonky.

INGREDIENTS:

1 8oz. package tempeh
1 ½ cups orange juice
Zest of one orange
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp mirin
1 tsp finely grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped parsley
Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Set a saucepan full of water on the range to boil. Be sure to salt the water. Meanwhile, cut the tempeh block into small triangles. Seen my tempeh-cutting diagram? Go one triangle further to make the triangles half as large. When the water has reached a boil, toss in the tempeh triangles and let them cook for 3-5 minutes. Using tongs, evacuate them to a colander to drain.




Next, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Make sure to keep it low enough so the oil doesn’t smoke. Place the drained tempeh into the skillet, arranging it so that each piece lies flat. Be careful here, as the wet tempeh may cause the oil to spit and burn your delicate little hands. Don’t disturb them for about five minutes or until they are golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together your remaining wet ingredients: the orange juice, soy sauce, mirin, ginger, garlic, and orange zest. Season it to taste with salt and pepper.




Flip the tempeh triangles when the five minutes is up so that the other side may brown. Allow them to cook for five more minutes, then pour in the sauce mixture. Allow the sauce and tempeh to simmer for about 7 to 8 minutes, then remove the tempeh onto a plate using your tongs. Reduce heat to low, and stir the parsley into your sauce. Spoon remaining sauce onto your tempeh and serve. Yum!




This didn’t produce the thickest of all sauces for me, but I imagine if it’s monitored very closely, you could get a very satisfying glaze. You know how it is on girls night… Chit-chat leads me to pay less attention to my dish. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed it thoroughly, and the sauce went fabulously with the kale. A winner, over all!