Tempeh with Maple, Mustard, and Balsamic Glaze

Wow, it has been quite some time since I last posted. I'm such a slacker! Anyway, here's Tempeh with Maple. Mustard and Balsamic Glaze (page 299) served with some roasted yellow cauliflower and mustard greens.

I should preface this review by saying that both me and the Mr. are extremely picky when it comes to tempeh.

For the recipe, all the ingredients are easy to find and probably already in your pantry. It is super easy to put together with the most amount of work being to fry the tempeh. My only changes were that I simmered the tempeh for only 5 minutes instead of 30 minutes (30 always seems excessive to me), substituted a strong dijon mustard for the spicy mustard and doubled the tabasco.

Taste-wise, we thought it was okay. Good, but not fantastic (remember we are picky). I found that the balsamic vinegar really overpowered the other flavours so that the predominant taste was sweet (from the maple) balsamic. I love balsamic but I wanted to taste the mustard in it as well as more maple since mustard + maple is a wonderful combination. I think that the glaze recipe as is would make an excellent salad dressing if emulsified with some olive oil. Or maybe I'm just saying that because I use most of those ingredients in my own balsamic vinagrette. :p

I think if I make it again I would cut the balsamic down to 1 tbsp and I would probably skip the vegetable stock step. It really didn't need more liquid especially since it was already plump from simmering and after frying, the tempeh lost its crispiness.

Having said all that, it's a good recipe but may need to tweaked to your liking. Do give it a try though. All this talk of tempeh makes me actually crave this tempeh again.

— Ms. Veganorama