Back in Finland, my first shot at cooking tempeh was not very successful. Fortunately I had that great first experience tasting it, so I didn’t give up on it. Unless you’re really used to its strong, often overpowering taste, it can be a tricky thing to cook. Fortunately, there’s a very simple way to cook it – the way I had it the first time.

Kering tempe is Indonesian for dry or crispy tempeh. Most of the recipes in the internet that go with that name also make a spice mixture with fried onions, which is mixed with the tempe before serving, but I’m partial to a version where the tempeh is simply eaten as it is, without any garnishes.

Here’s what I use:

• 1 dl oil (per frying pan)
• 250 g tempeh, cut into 3 mm thick slices
• salt to taste

I start by heating oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Using two pans makes the whole process a bit quicker, but (obviously) uses up more oil. Then I fry the tempeh slices on both sides, maybe about 3-5 minutes per side, but this depends on how hot the oil gets. It’s really easy to burn the tempeh, so I check the undersides often. The tempeh slices are ready when they are golden brown and feel crisp and hard in the middle when touched with a spatula. If they’re still soft, even just a little bit in the center, they are not ready yet!

After frying I put the slices on a kitchen towel to drain off the extra oil, and add the next batch to the frying pans. When I’ve fried all the tempeh I have, I put the slices in a bowl and add salt to my liking.

Fried tempeh keeps well, at least a couple of weeks if kept in an airtight container in the fridge. It’s a great snack, can be added to a salad or a sandwich, or eaten as a main protein in a light meal. Many people find tempeh’s taste a bit weird, but I guarantee that cooked this way it’s both delicious and addictive!

The stock recipe we adapted from the Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna J. Sass, a book we very much recommend for anyone with a pressure cooker. There is a little planning ahead to do for this dish: the tempeh needs to be put in the marinade on the day before, the wrappers need a few hours to thaw, and the filling has to cool down before the assembling process can begin.

The Marinated Tempeh:

• 200 g tempeh, crumbled
• 1/2 dl light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger

Heikki mixed all the ingredients and let the tempeh marinate overnight in the fridge.

The Filling (for about 64 wontons and a little extra):

• 1 red bell pepper, finely cubed
• 1 leek, the white part, finely chopped
• the marinated tempeh from above
• canola oil for frying

We fried the marinated tempeh crumbs in the oil for about 15 minutes on medium heat, until they were all nicely browned. Then we added the veggies to the pan, and fried for a few minutes, until they’d softened a little bit.

The Stock:

• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 dl shredded cabbage (new crop)
• 1 leek, the green part, chopped
• 5 large garlic cloves, sliced
• 4 cm piece of a ginger root, sliced
• about 4 dl loosely packed fresh cilantro, with roots (scrubbed)
• 1 stalk shopped lemon grass
• 1 and 1/2 litres water

We placed all the ingredients in our pressure cooker, brought it to high pressure, cooked it for 10 minutes, and then let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes. Then we strained the stock through a fine sieve and added:

• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil

Without a pressure cooker, the stock needs at least an hour of simmering.

Assembling the Wontons:

The wrappers need to be defrosted first, which takes a few hours at least. They do keep in the fridge for a while after defrosting, so this can be done on the day before. Not all wonton wrappers are vegan, so it’s important to read the labels carefully!

While I was assembling the wontons, I took care that the additional wrappers were covered with plastic. The method I used for assembling is very easy and seals tightly, but there are many other possibilities, like the fun boat shape in Veganyumyum‘s wonton recipe.

First, I placed a little less than a teaspoonful of the filling on one end of a wrapper, and brushed the edges of the wrapper with water. Then I rolled the wrapper tightly around the filling, and pressed down the ends of the resulting roll, adding a dab of water on each end. I took care to press the excess air out of the roll while doing this – the dumplings will be prettier that way.

Now, I folded the wonton roll gently in half, bringing the two ends together, and pressed them firmly with my fingers to seal. And then I repeated the process 63 times, keeping the already filled wontons covered under a kitchen towel while working on the rest.

The Boiling and Serving of the Wontons:

When all the wontons were ready, we brought a big pot filled with water to a brisk boil, and cooked them for 1-2 minutes, until all had floated up to the surface. Then we picked them up with a slotted spoon, and placed in the hot vegetable broth we’d just made.

We sliced some new crop cabbage into our bowls, scooped a generous amount of soup over it, and enjoyed!

My marinade for 200 grams of tempeh:

• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 dl water
• 1 cm slice of a ginger root, finely grated
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup (or other sweetener)

I cut the tempeh in small triangles, and marinated it for an hour in the refrigerator. Then I fried it in 2 tablespoons of canola oil until it was brown and crispy, which took about 6 minutes on each side.

In Finland, I have only found tempeh in the refrigerated section of Asian groceries – we buy ours at Aseanic Trading on Kolmas linja.

Heikki has successfully taught me to eat tempeh, a fermented soy bean cake we buy from the Asian grocery. Tempeh has a taste that is a little bitter, and it reminded me of blue cheese at first. Cooking or steaming the tempeh gives it a milder taste and helps it absorb flavors. We fried our leftovers the next day, added a little soy sauce on the frying pan, and enjoyed them between some rye bread – very yummy!

Here’s what we used:

• 1 (400 g) package tempeh

The marinade:

• 1 dl dry white wine (we had a chardonnay)
• 2 dl vegetable stock (2 dl water plus 1/2 stock cube)
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried crushed red chili
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon

First, I placed a big pot of water on the stove top and heated until boiling. Then I cut the tempeh block in three parts, which resulted in three square pieces. Now, I cut each piece in two triangles, and then sliced each triangle in 4 thin slices, each about a centimeter thick. This is what resulted:

Now, I placed the tempeh in the pot of boiling water, reduced the heat to low, and boiled them for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I mixed all the marinade ingredients in a big bowl, and when the tempeh was ready, I placed the hot tempeh pieces in the marinade bowl, and marinated them for about an hour. I shook the tempeh bowl a few times to make sure each piece got soaked in the marinade.

When the temped had marinated, I heated the oven to 250 degrees Celsius, and placed the tempeh triangles on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. I drizzled some marinade over the tempeh pieces, and then baked them in the upper rack of the oven for about 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, I removed the baking sheet from the oven, flipped the tempeh slices over, and poured the rest of the marinade over the tempeh. Then I baked them until all the marinade was absorbed.

Leftovers:

Next day, we fried our leftover tempeh in canola oil until crispy, and then poured the following mixture in the frying pan:

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

Heikki flipped the tempeh slices over and fried them until the liquid had evaporated, and soy sauce made a sticky coating for the tempeh slices. Then we filled small round rye breads with veggies, yogurt garlic sauce, and fried tempeh. The burgers were very yummy, and this probably was the best tempeh I’ve ever had!