Tempeh chicken salad

October 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »

I’ve been vegan for a little over 2 1/2 years now. Would you believe that I’ve never experimented with tempeh? I thought I didn’t like it. You see, a while back I purchased premade tempeh at the market. One had a cherry glaze which was very yummy. However, the tempeh itself was hard and dry. The other was just downright awful. It was also hard and dry, but the taste was even worse. I guess it just turned me off of tempeh all together. Of course I still eat tempeh bacon. That stuff is amazing. But that’s about as far as I’d go. It never occurred to me to buy a package of tempeh to experiment with it myself. That is until last week when I reached for Veganomicon and decided on the Baja Style Tempeh Tacos.

To tell you the truth I’m not even sure why I opted for the tempeh tacos. I guess I wanted to give tempeh another shot? I also wanted to try out a new recipe from the book. There are a ton I haven’t even gotten to yet. That’s probably because I keep making the same ones over and over again. Anyway, the tacos were FANTASTIC! I was seriously impressed. The texture was so much different than the other tempeh dishes I had previously tried. This tempeh was tender (but not too tender) and moist. It was so full of flavor. I was in love.

As I was sitting there eating my delicious tempeh tacos I was thinking of all of the possibilities. What else could I do with this stuff? Grilled tempeh, BBQ tempeh, tempeh hot ‘wings’, shepherd’s pie (a wonderful fall favorite)… chicken salad! I was thinking about that chicken salad all week. Today I got to work. I’m sure there are a ton of tempeh chicken salad recipes out there, but this is what I went with.

Ingredients

• 1 8 oz package of tempeh
• 2 1/2 – 3 cups water
• 1 Not-Chick’n Bouillon cube
• 1/4 cup celery, diced
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, diced
• 1/4 cup bread and butter pickles, diced
• 1 cup lettuce, chopped
• 1/2 cup Vegenaise
• 2 tsp tarragon leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

First boil the water and whisk in the bouillon cube until completely dissolved. Turn the heat down to a simmer. Slice the tempeh in 6 equal strips and place it in the pot of water and simmer for about 15 minutes or until tender. Remove tempeh from the water and allow to cool. Cut tempeh into small chunks and toss in a mixing bowl with the other ingredients. Refrigerate for an hour or so before eating. It tastes SO much better cold. I also like to add in a little dijon. It depends on my mood though. If I want a lighter tasting salad I’ll eat it as is. But if I want a little extra zing the dijon really does kick it up a couple of notches.

And now a question for you fine people. What are your favorite tempeh recipes? I’ll definitely be experimenting more in the future and would love to try out some of your favorites if you have any.