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Sweet and Sour Tempeh

A vegan sweet and sour tempeh recipe, adapted from Avant-Garde Vegan, that finally won me over to sweet and sour

2 min read

This recipe was originally written by Gaz Oakley - Avant-Garde Vegan. I’ve made a few tweaks, but you can find the original recipe here Sweet & Sour Tempeh - Avant-Garde Vegan

I was never a fan of sweet and sour when I ordered it from a Chinese takeaway, it always seemed too intense in all the wrong places; so sweet that it hurt my teeth, or so vinegary that it made my eyes water. This recipe seems to have the balance of everything just right chefs kiss

Ingredients

1 block of tempeh Rice Lime wedge

Sauce 120ml pineapple juice 60ml rice wine vinegar (I use apple cider) 120ml water 2 tbsp sriracha 4 tbsp tomato puree 1 tbsp soy sauce 3 tbsp maple syrup

Vegetables Tenderstem broccoli Red/yellow pepper Mushrooms Carrots

Method

  1. Heat your oven to 180 degrees C, grab a baking tray and line it with greaseproof paper
  2. Chop the tempeh into cubes, toss it in a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper and chuck it onto the baking tray and into the oven for ~15 mins
  3. I put my rice on at the same time, but this will depend on what sort of rice you’re using, and how soft you want it
  4. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small pan and heat it until it starts to bubble
  5. Once your rice is just about done, heat some oil in a wok (sesame oil is excellent, if you have that to hand)
  6. Drain your rice and stick it back in the pan with the lid on. This will trap the steam in which should make it nice and fluffy. Just make sure you don’t put the pan back on a hot hob or the rice will burn to the pan (speaking from experience 😬)
  7. Chuck your mushrooms and broccoli into the wok for a couple of minutes to soften. You could add a little splash of soy sauce if you like
  8. Chuck in your peppers and carrots and toss them around. Don’t cook them for too long, the crunch that they add when they’re only part-cooked is the best
  9. Add some of the sauce just to flavour the vegetables. I recommend not throwing the tempeh into the wok so that it stays nice and crispy
  10. Serve up your rice, add the vegetables on top, followed by the roasted tempeh, and a splash of sauce
  11. Add some sesame seeds and a squeeze of lime and you’re done!

A bowl of sweet and sour tempeh with carrots and tenderstem, a sprinkling of sesame seeds and a wedge of lime on the side