Recipe of the Week by Santa Barbara resident and natural food chef, Melissa Costello
Tacos: We all love them, but they are usually laden with fatty, high-cholesterol toppings, such as sour cream and cheese.
This plant-based, Korean-style version, made with high-protein tempeh, offers a delicious twist on the classic originals. Using simple ingredients, this dish will quickly become a favorite in your healthy household offering up an array of flavors and textures. They are so scrumptious and satisfying. You won’t even miss the meat!
Top them off with some avocado slices or fresh homemade guacamole for an even more decadent dish.
Korean Style Tempeh Tacos with Dijon Slaw
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or sesame oil
1 8-ounce package tempeh, crumbled
3 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup or raw dark blue agave nectar
4 to 6 organic soft corn tortillas
Over medium heat in a large skillet, heat enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Place the crumbled tempeh in the pan and cook until brown, stirring frequently. In the meantime, in a small bowl, whisk the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, sesame seeds, apple cider vinegar, and agave nectar. Pour over the tempeh and let it cook about 3 to 4 minutes or until the sauce is absorbed into the tempeh.
Coleslaw
½ small head red cabbage, finely shredded
¼ cup slivered almonds
Place ingredients into a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Dijon Dressing
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 shallot, finely diced
1 teaspoon agave nectar
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Whisk or blend dressing ingredients together and pour over slaw. Toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
To assemble the tacos: Place a spoonful of the tempeh mixture on the taco shell and top with the Dijon slaw. Add guacamole or avocado slices, if desired.
Santa Barbara resident Melissa Costello, founder of Karma Chow is a culinary nutritionist, cookbook author, speaker and wellness coach. She is the creator of the 30-Day Vital Life cleanse. Her latest cookbook, The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook can be found online or in bookstores near you.
The tacos look great. Just wanted to let you and your readers know that we produced Betsy’s Tempeh in Mich. for 9 1/2 years, developing a new process for making tempeh without using plastic bags. We sold our tempeh in patties and grated and gave away our 8 page recipe pamphlet when doing our in store demos.
Gunter and I are still making tempeh for ourselves and friends and are currently working on a tempeh incubator for both restaurants and small shops producing healthy food for the local community. We are in the pre-prototype stage and with soon be looking for a person or group that could take it to the next level of making the prototype and then onto the manufacturing stage.
We live in Port Hueneme so we invite you to come down and have a tempeh panini with us and eat and talk food and tempeh!
Betsy Shipley
makethebesttempeh.org
Best wishes to you Betsy, and for Karma Chow to flourish too!
wow Betsy, impressive! thank you for sharing!!
My friends in SLO loved this.
Looks like a healthy quick recipe — thanks!