Sweet Soy Ginger Tempeh with Kale Special Anniversary Edition

 I’ve recently celebrated the ten year anniversary of my first blog post. To mark the occasion I’ve given the dish from that first post a bit of a makeover, as well as an updated photo (of sorts). Below are some excerpts from the first post and the update to the recipe.

Lately I've been craving Tempeh and Kale with rice; growing up as I did in Woodstock, it is considered something of a comfort food dish. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Tempeh is a delicious soy protein cake made from soy and other whole grains fermented together. It is nutty, very dense and quite dry, which can make it difficult to work with. It softens and becomes more moist when it has been heated. 

In this updated version of the recipe I sear the tempeh and use ginger in the accompanying light teriyaki style sauce. I was very happy with the small amount of zing it imparted to the tempeh in my dish. I recommend serving this with white rice.

Ginger Teriyaki Tempeh with Kale

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 lb tempeh, cut into 2” pieces

5 ounces kale, washed, stems trimmed & chopped into 1” pieces

1/2 yellow onion, julienned

1 teaspoon grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1/4 cup, plus 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

3 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 Tablespoons neutral oil

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

For Serving

3 cups cooked white rice

(optional garnish) small sprinkling of black sesame seeds

Method

In a small, heavy bottomed pan over low heat, combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger together with 3 Tablespoons of water. Bring to a simmer, then turn down to the lowest possible heat. Cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the sauce has reached the desired consistency (it will thicken a little bit on standing). Set sauce aside in the pan. Meanwhile, rinse rice under running water several times and drain. Bring to a boil with stock or water (I do half and half and since I like firmer rice I usually use 1 1/2 cups liquid to 1 cup of rice; this will make approximately 3 cups cooked rice), then reduce to the lowest heat. Cook rice for 12 minutes.  Once you’ve finished the sauce and while the rice is cooking, add the oil to a large wok or saucepan, saute onion and kale together with a tiny pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper until cooked through. Set kale/onions aside. Add sesame oil to the wok. If needed, add more oil to the wok, enough to shallow fry the tempeh. Pan fry the tempeh on medium heat for about 1 minute per surface. Cook until it is lightly browned on all sides. To serve, reheat sauce, pile tempeh over greens and drizzle generously with sauce.