Tempeh is a fermented food made with soybeans, popular in Southeast Asia and used as a meat substitute by vegetarians. Good tempeh has a nutty, musty taste and can be grilled, baked, or stir-fried. It is easy to digest and readily absorbs flavors. Cooks should look for a firm cake with a whitish bloom and avoid slimy or ammonia-smelling tempeh.
Tempeh is a fermented food product, commonly made with soybeans, although other ingredients such as whole grains and other beans are sometimes used. It originated in Indonesia where it is a staple food and many other Southeast Asian countries have adopted tempeh as well. In the West, a growing number of cooks are experimenting with this product, along with other soy foods, and it is readily available in many markets in both fresh and frozen form. Fresh tempeh can also be frozen, if it won’t be used within a few days, and even experimental cooks can make it at home.
When selecting tempeh to eat, cooks should look for a firm cake with a whitish bloom. Black spots or veining are also acceptable, but any other color suggests it may have gone bad. It is also not good to eat if it is slimy or has a strong ammonia smell. Bad tempeh doesn’t just taste bad; it can also cause unpleasant gastrointestinal experiences. Good tempeh has a slightly nutty, musty aroma and taste.
When preparing traditional tempeh, cooks start by blanching and hulling the soybeans. Partially cooked soybeans are mixed with a fungus, Rhizopus oligosporus, and left to ferment. The result is a dense, high-protein, low-fat cake with a white moldy bloom. If actual mold appears, it is cut off before cooking. Unlike other soy products, tempeh is very easy to digest, as fermentation breaks down the structures that make soy difficult for the body to process. In addition, the chemical that causes gasiness after eating beans is also broken down.
In traditional Indonesian cuisine, tempeh is used in a variety of foods. Vegetarians around the world also use it as a facsimile of meat, and it appears in veggie burgers, fries, and veggie breakfast foods. Like other soy products, the flavor is relatively bland unless fermented or flavored with other foods, and it readily takes on the flavors it is cooked in. For this reason, some vegetarians prefer highly absorbent tempeh for stir-fries and similar dishes.
In addition to being thinly sliced or diced for stir-frying, tempeh can also be grilled, baked, or broiled. The dense chewy cake holds its shape very well unless manually sliced or crumbled, and employs marinades and toppings well. As well as being served hot, it can also be used cold for sandwiches and packed lunches, as long as it is cooled quickly after cooking so that harmful organisms are not encouraged to grow.
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