Tempeh is a highly protein vegetable dish . It can be cooked in many ways and is a rather versatile product.

The tempeh can be purchased ready-made or can be prepared at home; this last solution takes some time but is much more advantageous from an economic point of view.

What it takes to prepare the tempeh

To prepare the tempeh at home, you need yellow soy, water, apple vinegar and a special starter based on Rhizopus orzyae or Rhizopus oligosporus, which can be purchased in stores specializing in natural food or online.

We also need a large pot, two bags for freezing medium-sized foods, a toothpick and ideally also a kitchen thermometer.

Tempeh recipe

To prepare a kilo of tempeh you need:

Ingredients

> 600 g of yellow soy;

> 1 teaspoon of starter for tempeh;

> 6 tablespoons of apple vinegar;

> water.

Preparation

To ward off the tempeh you must first soak the soy and leave it in the water at least one night, preferably for 18-24 hours. For 600 g of soy, two liters of water are needed.

After the soaking period, drain the soy and rub vigorously with your hands so as to remove the skins (provided that you have not purchased soya already free of peel, in this case this phase is not necessary), which will then have to be eliminated; a simple method to dispose of them is to add more water to the container, the skins at that point will float and can be removed quite easily. If a few peels remain, it is not a problem.

Switch to cooking at this point. Soy is cooked in water and apple vinegar for half an hour . Water must have twice the weight of soy. After 30 minutes, remove the water and put the pot back on the heat to completely dry the soy, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Allow the soy to cool to about 35 degrees, ideally checking the temperature with a kitchen thermometer.

Pour the tempeh starter onto the soya and mix thoroughly for at least one minute.

Drill many holes with the toothpick on the frozen food bags . Distribute the preparation for tempeh in the two bags, forming two blocks of about three centimeters thick and store them at a temperature between 30 and 32 degrees centigrade for 36-48 hours, so as to allow fermentation.

In the summer it will be easier because it will be enough to keep the dough in the kitchen, which is usually the warmest room in the house, perhaps inside the oven. In winter you can use a yogurt maker or a cheese maker as an incubator or, alternatively, you can put the mixture inside the closed oven, trying to maintain a sufficiently warm temperature, for example by keeping the light bulb on, or by adding, inside, a basin of boiling water. The tempeh is ready when the white mycelium appears, a sort of patina, which covers the dough.

After the rest period, the tempeh can be consumed immediately or, after cooking (grilled, fried, stir-fried, stewed), or preserved. To keep it longer, it must be frozen. Otherwise it can be vacuum packed in the refrigerator for 5 or 6 days.