Sesame Marinated Tempeh Salad

This tempeh salad is the perfect way to enjoy one of my favourite vegan protein sources – tempeh. Tempeh is a traditional indonesian food made from fermented soy beans. Unlike tofu, tempeh is a whole soybean product and has a much different taste and texture. Tempeh is much easier to digest than tofu due to the fermentation process, but it is just as high in protein (more so actually!). It’s also a great source of iron, calcium and magnesium, as well as pre-biotics that can help with gut health. For all of those reasons I think tempeh is an incredible addition to the diet and this salad is a great way to add tempeh to your cooking rota.

In this tempeh salad recipe, the star ingredient is marinated in a sesame and ginger marinade, infusing it with incredible flavour. This is elevated even further by the addition of a sesame and ginger salad dressing. The addition of brown rice not only adds a delicious nuttiness but also provides complex carbohydrates, ensuring that this salad not only tastes amazing, but also leaves you feeling fully satisfied and nourished.

Ingredients

The marinated tempeh has rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, tahini, garlic, ginger, brown sugar and sesame seeds. A little water is added which increases the volume to ensure that all the tempeh gets evenly coated in the marinade.

The tempeh is best when left to marinate overnight, but anything from as little as 30 minutes all the way up to 3 days in the fridge will work fine too.

The salad consists of lettuce, spring onion, red bell pepper, fresh coriander and optionally, fresh chilli. The dressing is a sesame vinaigrette made with sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, ginger and garlic.

There are a few components to this dish but the actual prep and cook time is pretty minimal, so don’t fear!

There are a few subs you can make in this tempeh salad! You could swap the tempeh for tofu if you prefer.

The brown sugar and maple syrup in the marinated tempeh and salad dressing respectively, can be subbed for your preferred sweetener.

Feel free to use whatever grains you like, I personally love how brown rice tastes in this salad but you could use white rice, quinoa, even noodles!

I have used dark soy sauce in the marinade because I like the depth of flavour and colour it brings but if all you have is light, you could use that instead.
Likewise, the salad dressing uses light soy sauce because I didn’t want it to get too dark but if all you have is dark soy sauce, use that instead.

You can also use whatever veggies you like in the salad. Carrot, cabbage, spinach – whatever’s in your fridge!

To make this tempeh salad, first make the tempeh marinade. This is as simple as adding all the marinade ingredients to a glass container (one that you have a lid for) and whisking them together.

Cut the tempeh into whatever shape you like, I wanted mine to be pretty chunky so I sliced it into discs then cut those discs in half.

Add your tempeh to the marinade before putting the lid on the container and putting it in the fridge, ideally overnight. Anything between 30 minutes and 3 days is fine though!

When you’re ready to make the salad, start by cooking the brown rice. I use a 2:1 ratio of water:rice and cook until all of the water is absorbed. Rinse under cold water once cooked to quickly cool the rice down.

While the rice is cooking, chop up the rest of the salad ingredients and make the dressing.

To make the dressing, simply add the dressing ingredients to a jar before adding the lid and shaking well to combine.

In a large bowl, combine the salad vegetables with the cooled rice and sesame salad dressing. Let it sit while you cook the tempeh to let the flavours meld together.

Now you can cook the tempeh. Simply heat a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat before adding your tempeh to the pan. Cook on both sides until golden and crispy.

Serve the tempeh on top of the salad and finish with a garnish of fresh coriander and chilli.

If you want to make this tempeh salad ahead of time, you can prepare the tempeh marinade, salad dressing and cooked brown rice in advance and store them separately in air-tight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days. I recommend cutting the salad vegetables when you’re ready to eat so that they don’t wilt.

For more salad recipes, click here!