tempeh – Do The Work Today

As Team Harrison continues to expand our horizons on vegetarian and vegan options, I am increasing my exploration into homemade options over store bought packaged food. In fact, I touched on this topic in my post Make Your Own Food. Most of the packaged food includes ingredients that violate my Ayurvedic diet or have lots of preservatives, sweeteners, and excess additives that I simply don’t want. Therefore, I know that by making my own food at home I can avoid these ingredients.

One of the key foods that both Dr. Nibodhi and Andrew Sterman both recommended is tempeh. Unfortunately, most store bought tempeh is made with soy, wheat, and/or grains which I am trying to avoid. Therefore, I decided to try and make my own homemade Adzuki Bean Tempeh.

After doing a lot of research, I found the perfect recipe from Meatless Makeover which specifically uses an Instapot.

I tried this recipe and it worked GREAT! I was really surprised at how good the tempeh tasted, and more importantly I was shocked that Angie and Elvis seemed to really enjoy the finished product.

A few things to note if you are going to try and make this at home is (1) don’t overcook the beans and (2) it took MUCH longer in my Instapot then the recipe suggested. In fact, I think it took 72 hours or longer on the “Less” Yogurt setting on my Instapot.

Ingredients:

2 cups of Adzuki Beans

4 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

1 packet of Tempeh starter

6 cups of water

Below are the steps and a few pictures to help you.

(1) Buy quality Organic Dry Adzuki Beans

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(2) Measure 2 cups

(3) Soak the beans in water

(4) Add them to the pressure cooker in 6 cups of water and set to “Normal”

(5) Set to “High” for 7 minutes. When done let sit for another 10 minutes and then vent the steam and check that the beans are cooked.

(6) While the beans are cooking, prepare a ziplock bag by punching wholes 1″ apart through both sides. Also, get the metal rack to use later inside the pressure cooker.

(7) Strain and rinse the beans, then pat dry. Then transfer to a bowl, add the 4 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar and the tempeh starter pack.

(8) Add the beans to the ziplock and roll the top down pulling the beans tight.

(9) Place the bean package on the metal rack in the Instapot with the ziploc seam face down.

(10) Set the pressure cooker to the “less” setting on the Yogurt mode. I originally did 24 hours, but on my second batch I set the timer for 72 hours.

(11) Check the tempeh after 24 hours and every 12 hours thereafter until you see the growth of the mold and crust.

(12) Remove when ready and cut in half.

(13) You should be able to see the mold on the outside and the inside. This will last 10 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer.

(14) Now slice into 1″ to 1 1/2″ pieces and saute in your favorite way – ghee, miso tamari, olive oil, etc. and then serve over your favorite dish. Below is an example of Adzuki Bean Tempeh over Vegan Pesto Chickpea Pasta.

(15) Here is the same sauteed miso glazed tempeh over cauliflower fried rice. Garnish with mung bean sprouts, scallions, and sesame seeds. If you are making Lettuce Wraps, you can actually use the same dipping sauce and toppings over your tempeh.

I hope you enjoy and remember be kind to yourself and just do the work today!

The single most important thing to do when you want to eat healthy is to prepare your own food.

When I do research and go to the Supermarket or Coop to look at plant-based foods, I am very shocked at the amount of ingredients that are added to most of the products from Impossible Burgers, to Beyond Meat and all the various meat and cheese alternatives.

To get started, let me share that my current focus is an Ayurvedic diet aimed at overall health and wellness, with a focus on reducing inflammation and reversing some coronary calcium buildup in my left anterior descending artery (LAD or Widowmaker). The inflammation in my body is mainly due to three major injuries in the Army which left me with a Service Disability rating of 30% and no cartilage in my right hip. The mild coronary artery disease is part genetics, part diet, and part lifestyle, but as I approach 50 I am more committed than ever to eliminate the plaque through science and dietary changes.

This means I am focusing on a diet high in fruits and vegetables with no four legged animals and no birds to include eggs. Additionally, I will be eliminating all nightshades (which I actually haven’t eaten in years) and while I am allowed limited fish, I will not be consuming shellfish (my favorite) nor will I be eating tuna, swordfish or catfish. Furthermore, my diet does NOT include nuts. While I am permitted to eat seeds – sunflower, flax, pumpkin, hemp – I am not allowed to consume nuts, nut milks, or nut products. Lastly, there is NO gluten. This includes wheat, rye, barley and oats. However, I can consumer long grain rice, quinoa, millet, and amaranth. I was very encouraged when I reorganized my pantry and discovered that I already had most of the approved grains in grain and flour form.

The reason I thought it was important to share my current dietary focus, is because when you go to the market or health food store and start to look at the back of the packaging for most plant-based alternatives for meat and cheese, the majority of these items contain gluten, nuts and/or soy. That’s pretty unbelievable, here I thought I was going to commit to being more planted based and I’d simply be able to go to the “healthy” section of the store and grab something from one of the new popular alternative brands like Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work for me.

The good news is that it re-enforces the topic of today’s post – make your own food. The only way to truly know what you are eating and how it works for your body is to understand the process by which the food was created and what raw ingredients are assembled to get the final product.

Yesterday, I began working on two new homemade products: Adzuki Bean Tempeh and Sunflower/Pumpkin Seed Ricotti.

The reason I picked these two items was driven based upon what I wanted to eat next week – Adzuki Bean Tempeh stir-fried over mixed vegetables (next week I might try fermenting my own Kimchi) and Vegan Lasagna.

When I was in the market yesterday, I noticed the first ingredient in almost all the Tempeh was “vital gluten” or “vital wheat,” neither which I want to consume. Secondarily, most Tempeh is based on soy and while I am not technically avoiding soy, I am definitely trying to limit my exposure.

Dr. Nibodhi had actually mentioned that the local Whole Foods in Austin has one of the best Adzuki Bean Tempeh his ever eaten – so that’s what inspired my desire to make my own. I’ll let you know in a day or so how it came out.

As for the Sunflower/Pumpkin Seed Ricotti this is also a first attempt, but it’s currently sitting on the counter in a Mason jar with the probiotic, himalayan sea salt and some coconut milk. Again, I’ll check back later.

Thanks for your time today, and remember, the best way to watch what you eat is to make your own food.

Now go Do The Work Today!

Much Love