Question
Kimberly Blank
When making tempeh for the first time do you have any suggestions?
I am planning on steaming, then frying it on the griddle.
Answer
So, um, yeah, one of the first things I always tell people to do is for Tempe, I love to actually put it in a, uh, water and boil off, um, boil it. And this is actually just something that I've done for years. When I first became, you know, when I first started cooking Tempe, I didn't really do it as much and it always had had this kind of interesting kind of, uh, well it's, it is, it's like a fermentation flavor to it, but it was something a little off that I didn't really like much on it. And, uh, chef gave me a tip of, uh, putting it in water and boiling it for about five minutes and then taking it out. And it's amazing the difference on that. So do that first and then prepare it however you're going to prepare it. So, uh, that's one of the first things I do is just in the whole block is I'll take water, boil it for about five minutes a little bit. You don't want it to start crumbling apart. Um, and then after you have that, you can, you can definitely steam it, um, you know, which is great to be able to, to have it to kinda heat up. Now if you're gonna fry it, just slice it, you know, uh, thin to be able to make that happen. Now, if you're gonna use oil, that's great. Just make sure that, um, you know, like, because if you're boiling it and then if you're going to steam it, you don't wanna steam it too long 'cause it can start to fall apart, especially if you're going to be frying it and flipping it like that, um, on the griddle. So, uh, just watch how long you're going to steam it beforehand. A lot of people say if you steam it, you can skip the process of boiling. I just find that it works a lot better if I actually boil it to be able to get rid of that kind of off flavor as well. Um, and then make sure to, before you start frying it, to season it beforehand. So put your seasonings on there and then get it, um, into fry. You can add more seasoning afterward, but I love, before I actually get it into the griddle, if you're going to fry it, it actually helps to absorb some of the flavors, um, by seasoning it beforehand as well. So, uh, it should be great. Don't have any worries about that. It's an easy product to be able to use. Um, you know, getting it, uh, to perfection is actually pretty easy. So the more you do it, the better you're gonna get at this.
