Tempeh Chow Mein with Homey Orange Juice

The pork chop-liked tempeh is slightly sweet and sour thanks to the honey orange juice. Serve it with fried noodles and veggies for a nutritious and protein-rich meal.

What is Tempeh?

Tempeh is a traditional food from Indonesia, which is fermented with soybeans and Rhizopus oligosporus bacteria. Indonesians mostly eat it deep-fried, but it can also be pan-fried, steamed, baked, etc.

The tempeh I bought was frozen, milky white, a little like nougat. It had no odour after thawing, not watery, and it had no taste when eaten raw. If you want to use tempeh as ground meat, you can easily torn it into small pieces by hand, and the texture was alike dried tofu.

Tempeh has More Protein than Tofu

I also like tempeh is packed with protein, it’s way much higher than tofu! Let’s put the Tofoo Co Tempeh and Tofu into comparison, tempeh has 21.3 g protein per 100 g serving, while tofu only has 16.5 g protein.

Fried Tempeh, A Cheated Tonkatsu

It looked like fried pork chop tonkatsu, but just the outlook, not the taste. The tempeh has been marinated with orange peel, soy sauce, lime, honey, etc. for 30 minutes. So it had a hint of citrus aroma. Try it out! It will surprise you.

Ingredients

Serves 2

For the Condiments

• ½ tbsp minced ginger
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 scallion (white parts, chopped)
• 1 tbsp diced fresh chilli

For the Tempeh, Veggies and Noodles

• 200 g frozen tempeh, thawed
  • 1-2 tbsp orange zest
  • ½ tbsp minced ginger
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp lime juice (or tamarind paste, to taste)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 handful of frozen beans
• 2 noodles

For the Seasonings

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• juice of ½ orange
• 1 scallion (green parts, chopped)
• sesame oil
• white pepper
• salt & pepper to taste
• roasted sesame

How To Make Tempeh Chow Mein with Orange Juice

1. Cut the tempeh into batons and marinate with the listed seasonings for 30 minutes.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and pan-fry the tempeh until both sides turned golden. Set aside. Meanwhile, boil the noodles according to the instructions.
3. Again heat some more oil in the pan, fry the ginger, garlic, scallion and chilli until fragrant. Then add the frozen beans (or other veggies of your choice) and season with salt & pepper.
4. Return the tempeh to the pan and squeeze over the fresh orange juice. Followed by noodles, soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil. Give them a nice stir-fry. Garnish with green scallions and sesame.