Vegetarian Cooking: How to Cook Tofu or Tempeh
Savvy Vegetarian tips on how to cook tofu and tempeh. There are many tasty tofu recipes and one tempeh recipe. Tempeh however can be used as a substitute for tofu.
Question for Savvy Vegetarian:
Hello. After a lot of back and forth, I have finally settled in to my vegetarian lifestyle. I am having trouble finding things to eat, however. I fine myself constantly eating the same meals, and it gets a little bland and boring after a while.
Recently I went to a restaurant and tried a meal using tempeh and absolutely loved the flavor and texture. After going out and buying lots of it, I discovered that I have NO IDEA how to cook it! When I tried it, it tasted like burnt cardboard. Also, I am terrible at cooking tofu. It always comes out a sloppy mess.
I am a decent cook, but I cannot seem to get the hang of this! Any advice on how to cook tempeh, or tofu? – K. Y.
Savvy Vegetarian Advice:
Hi K. Y. Tempeh should first be steamed for 20 minutes (less if you cut it up), for food safety reasons, as it’s a raw fermented food. After that, you can fry, barbecue or bake it, add it to stir fries, sandwiches, wraps, sloppy joes, casseroles, stews or whatever you want. The only tempeh recipe we have on Savvy Veg is Barbecue Tempeh Sandwich from the 30 Minute Vegan cookbook, but barbecued tempeh has a lot of uses. Tempeh can also stand in for many of the tofu recipes on Savvy Vegetarian, or you can use it in place of beans. After all, tempeh is made with soybeans.
As for tofu, a lot depends on the firmness of the tofu. Most recipes seem to need firm or even extra firm tofu, and the firmness varies a lot with the brand. You have to try out a few brands available in your area, and see what works best for you. Try some of our tasty tofu recipes, then you’ll be an expert tofu cook. Start with our basic tofu directions, and go from there.
About the lack of variety in your diet: Get yourself a few vegetarian cookbooks that appeal to you, and try a new recipe once a week, with at least one unfamiliar ingredient. Here’s a list of good cookbooks to choose from. After 52 weeks, your vegetarian recipe repertoire will be greatly expanded.
On the other hand: After umpteen years as a vegetarian, and coming up with new recipes for Savvy Veg all the time, I still tend to make the same six basic recipes, with variations, constantly. Let’s face it, cooking is faster and easier that way. It’s the many possible variations that save my vegetarian diet from dullness.
All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian
Tags: barbecued tempeh, how to cook tempeh, how to cook tofu, tempeh, Tofu, tofu recipes, vegetarian, vegetarian cookbooks, vegetarian diet
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I usually slice the tofu into 1cm thick slices and simply slowly fry them in a fryingpan with some olive oil and some healthy splashes of soy sauce or ketjap manis (sweet sticky soy sauce). Turn the slices regularly and add more soy sauce to make the tofu nice and brown. When the outside of the tofu is crispy they’re done.
Serve hot with rice or cold, sliced into cubes, with a green salad.
I’d like to know what those 6 recipes are…
As a new vegetarian/vegan, I highly recommend “Vegan Planet” by Robin Robertson. It has a bazillion recipes, easy-to-follow instructions, and such a wide variety that just about anyone will be pleased. And it was cheap on Amazon.com. :)