Before turning vegetarian in 2010, I was still eating seafood.
And I LOVED Japanese food.
In a cruel twist of fate, the first restaurant I visited after making the transition… was a Japanese restaurant.
(Not my own decision of course. Unless it was a subconsious one. )
I freaked out thinking what an awful time I was going to have, not eating my favourite sushi and sashimi.
But some Tamago, Inari Sushi, Vegetable Tempura and a plate of Soba Noodles later, I realized that vegetarians needn’t miss out on their favourite cuisines.
Now as a vegan, I’ve come up with a dish that combines my love to Japanese with my Malaysian love for Tempeh.
Feel free to jazz yours up with additional ingredients like pea sprouts, avocado and sun-dried shallots, like what my incredibly talented friend Dianthus did when we met up to have fun with food design!
TEMPEH TEMAKI
Fried tempeh strips wrapped in sweet potato apple mash and seaweed.
Ingredients
- Nori sheets for rolling (Raw or Roasted)
- 1 cup of tempeh, cut into strips
- 1 tbsp organic gluten free soysauce
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1/2 organic cucumber, cut into strips
- Avocado, cut into strips (optional)
- Pea Sprouts (optional)
- Mash:
- 2 cups organic purple sweet potato diced and boiled for 15 mins (can be done in advance and kept in fridge overnight)
- 1/2 cup finely diced green apple
- 1 tbsp finely diced onion
- 1/2 tsp organic lime juice
- 2 pinches himalayan pink salt
- Alkaline water
- And... 1 serving of mayonnaise!
- Mayonnaise (1 serving):
- 2 1/2 tbsp organic soyabean powder
- 1/2 tsp psyllium husk
- 1 tsp organic apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 pinches of salt
- 1/4 tsp organic agave nectar
- 35ml alkaline water
Directions
- Step 1 Fry tempeh with soysauce and cooking oil for 5 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Step 2 Mix together mayonaise ingredients and allow to set for 5-10 minutes.
- Step 3 Mix together mash ingredients.
- Step 4 Cut nori sheets exactly in half down the middle, giving you two rectangular sheets.
- Step 5 Take 1 rectangular nori sheet and spread a spoonful of mash on half of one side. Layer with Mayonnaise, Tempeh, Cucumber, and optional avocado and pea sprouts.
- Step 6 Take lower left corner of the side that has ingredients, and carefully roll upwards and diagonally (right), until the left side of the sheet meets the middle of the sheet. Keep rolling until the entire sheet is rolled around the ingredients in an inverted triangular shape, like an ice cream cone.
- Step 7 Seal the loose end of the sheet onto the roll with some mash.
- Step 8 Serve immediately.
