North Carolina Style Tempeh Barbecue

Shannon Holmes's Note:

I got this recipe from Veggie Life Magazine and it is great. If you use molasses in this recipe, use 2/3 cup coffee and add 1/3 cup water. chipotle chiles are smoked jalapeno peppers, available dried or canned (often these are in adobo sauce). You can find this at Wal*mart or at Mexican markets.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 lb tempeh , sliced diagonally, about 1/3 inch thick
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 1 chipotle pepper
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste (I used tomato sauce here)
• 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup (*see note at top of recipe) or 2 tablespoons molasses (*see note at top of recipe)
• 1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
• 1 ½ cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup brewed coffee (or roasted grain substitute *see note at top of recipe)
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 4 whole grain sandwich rolls , toasted

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, place a steamer rack.
2. Place water in skillet, not touching the steamer rack.
3. Place tempeh slices on rack and steam 15-20 minutes.
4. Place on paper towels, remove rack and wipe out the skillet.
5. Place oil in skillet and over medium heat, fry the tempeh on each side until golden brown.
6. Remove and place on paper towels to drain.
7. Add onion to skillet and saute over medium heat until onion is lightly browned, about 8 minutes.
8. Add whole chipotle chile and cook 2 minutes more, until onion is browned.
9. Add vinegar to release brown bits from bottom of the pan.
10. Stirring in each ingredient gradually, add tomato paste, barley malt, mustard, vegetable stock, and coffee.
11. Simmer until mixture is almost reduced by half.
12. Remove chipotle, slice in half and remove seeds, mince and return to sauce.
13. Add browned tempeh and simmer about 10 more minutes.
14. Divide tempeh and sauce evenly among buns and serve with coleslaw, either on the sandwich or on the side.
15. I actually serve this on tortilla wrappers with rice and it is great like that!

Reviews

[irob]

My wife and I have made this recipe several times. We like to add another chipotle, add some brown sugar, and we don't generally steam the tempeh. We find it to be anything but bland! We keep coming back to this recipe and are glad to have found it here as we let a friend borrow our copy of the Veggie Life magazine this originally appeared in...

[Samsara]

It was ok but the sauce tasted more like ketchup than barbeque sauce. Next time I will add more chipotle and stronger espresso. I served this with Kittencal's onion patties (#138173).

[VegSocialWorker]

Four stars as the recipe worked as written, but points subtracted because despite all the wonderful things in this recipe it turned out really bland. So much so that I could barely finish my sandwich. I was tempted to give it less of a score, but realized that the recipe was basically sound and that the taste may be just personal preference. I was so excited to try this recipe, but have to say that I probably wouldn't make it again. I'm glad to have tried it though. We used the molasses option. Thanks for posting it.