Seemingly Endless Tempeh Salad Variations

Christine Waltermyer from the Natural Kitchen Cooking School introduced me to tempeh salad and I've been loving it ever since.  Now that I have her cookbook, The Natural Vegan Kitchen, I've been making it even more often and with lots of variations.

No offense to the original version intended, but I am very lazy busy; I don't always have the patience time it takes to follow recipes exactly as written.  So, this is how I've simplified my tempeh salad into a weeknight meal:

Abby Bean's No-Frills Tempeh Salad
(serves 4)

• Crumble 8oz tempeh into a medium saucepan with 2/3 cup water.

• Mix 2 tbsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp white miso, 2 tbsp lemon juice, and pour over tempeh; mix.

• Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
• Remove cover, mix, and simmer until water evaporates: stirring occasionally.
• Let cool completely (overnight in the fridge works, but I've been known to speed things up in the freezer) before dressing.



before

Now for the dressing variations (note that I like mine FULL of crunchy bits):


after

 Tempeh Salad Frill Options

Curry salad:
Mix 1/2 tsp curry, 1/4 tsp cayenne (or more), and 1/4 tsp turmeric into 2/3 cup mayo before coating tempeh.
Add 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup raisins, and salt to taste.  Add 3/4 cup diced apples if you feel like it; I hate apples and this didn't kill me.

Egg salad:
Mix 1/2 tsp black salt into 2/3 cup mayo before coating tempeh.  Add 1/4 tsp turmeric too if you need it to be yellow.  Add 1/4 cup relish, 1 cup chopped onions, 1 1/2 cup chopped celery, and black pepper to taste.

Tuna salad:
Mix 1 tbsp furikake into 2/3 cup mayo before coating tempeh.  Add 1 cup chopped onions, 1 1/2 cup chopped celery.

Dill:
Mix 1 tsp dill weed into 2/3 cup mayo before coating tempeh.  Add 1 cup chopped onions, and 1 1/2 cup chopped celery .

Ume Plum:
Sub ume plum vinegar for lemon juice.  After mayo, add 1/2 minced plum, 1 1/2 cup chopped celery.

You can pretty much mix anything- within reason- into tempeh salad.  Once you get the hang of it, it's a great way to clean out leftovers from your fridge for a cool, summertime meal.