Orange pan-glazed tempeh

August 14, 2009 at 4:07 pm (101 cookbooks, F (0 stars, inedible), Tempeh)

I was looking for a tempeh dish that would go well with spring rolls, and decided to try the recipe for orange pan-glazed tempeh that’s on the 101 cookbooks blog.  The pictures look pretty, and Heidi says “This might be the best tempeh recipe I’ve highlighted to date.”  Based on that strong recommendation, I decided I had to try it.

The recipe was disappointing.  The instructions work, and everything cooks just as specified, but my friend Alex and I both thought that the tempeh was simply boring.  I could definitely taste the orange juice, but that was pretty much the only flavor that stood out.  The ginger didn’t come through, I couldn’t taste the coriander seeds, nor could I detect any lime.  It pretty much just tasted like fried tempeh cooked in orange juice.  Plus,  the recipe is pretty high calorie.  I followed the instructions exactly, except I didn’t have mirin so used rice vinegar instead.  I can’t imagine that 1.5 Tablespoons of mirin could have really made that much of a difference.  If anything, I thought the recipe was too sweet and needed more vinegar/acid, not less.  I don’t think I’d make this recipe again, but if I was going to, I’d probably at least double the amounts of all the seasonings, and maybe cut down the maple syrup and add more soy sauce.

Rating: C