Ginger Broccoli and Tempeh

Happy Wednesday, it’s been a pretty slow weekend over here. Josh and I have been enjoying some of the San Diego Beer Week that’s been going on here. Checking out new beers plus our favorite bar has some pretty rad specials going on the this week with lots of local breweries, so we are enjoying that. I feel like we haven’t been eating many vegetables as we usually do so I’m trying to add more into the meals that we’ve been eating. It’s been a few weeks since we had any type of Asian style dish so I decided to whip this up this weekend and I’m pretty excited about how it turned out.

First lets talk about tempeh, its a fermented soy product. Being a vegetarian for over a decade now I feel like I’ve tried all the soy products out there. I can only eat so much tofu, so tempeh is a good alternate for tofu. I first had tempeh when I was in high school, while we don’t eat it to much I do really enjoy it. Tempeh has a bit of a texture which is nice because so many vegetarian options don’t have much of a texture to them. It also lends it self really well to Asian style dishes. I do want to mention it is important not to consume too much soy based products because they do have estrogen in them. As a women and consuming too much soy products can mess with your hormones. I didn’t know this for many years being a vegetarian and I wanted to share, it’s important to know what’s going on with your body and want you consume.

Onto cooking! Chop up a medium yellow onion and toss it in to a large sauté pan on medium-high heat with two tablespoons of olive oil. Cook for five minutes then add the broccoli stock. To use the broccoli stock start off by cutting off the florets and peel off the outer skin of the stock. The outer layer is tough, so you just want to meaty center part. Once the broccoli stock is peeled, dice it up into small piece and add in with the onion. I just recently starting cooking with the broccoli stock and I love what it adds to this meal. (Plus why throw something away that you can eat!) Cook the onion and broccoli until the onion has become translucent about five minutes. Add three tablespoons of fresh ginger that has been peeled and diced, cook for two minutes. Add half a cup of water, a package of roughly chopped tempeh and the broccoli florets to the sauté pan. Cover with a lid and cook for ten minutes or until the broccoli becomes tender. Stir occasionally.

In a small mixing bowl combine half a cup of soy sauce (I used half soy sauce half coconut amino), two tablespoons of sesame oil, three tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of oyster sauce and two tablespoons of Sriracha. Once the broccoli has become tender add the soy sauce mixture to the sauté pan, reduce to medium and cook for five minutes with the lid still on.

Serve over rice or Asian noodles, top with sesame seeds and green onion. If desired you can also squeeze a quarter of lime.

GINGER BROCCOLI AND TEMPEH

1 head broccoli, plus stock diced
1 package of tempeh, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, diced
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons Sriracha
Sesame seeds and green onion, to taste

1. Sautee yellow onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in large sauté pan on medium-high heat with two tablespoons of olive oil. Cook for five minutes then add the broccoli stock and add in with the onion. Cook the onion and broccoli until the onion has become translucent about five minutes. Add three tablespoons of fresh ginger that has been peeled and diced, cook for two minutes. Add half a cup of water, tempeh and the broccoli florets to the sauté pan. Cover with a lid and cook for ten minutes or until the broccoli becomes tender. Stir occasionally.
2. In a small mixing bowl combine half a cup of soy sauce (I used half soy sauce half coconut amino), two tablespoons of sesame oil, three tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of oyster sauce and two tablespoons of Sriracha.
3. Once the broccoli florets have become tender add the soy sauce mixture to the sauté pan, reduce to medium and cook for five minutes with the lid still on.
4. Serve over rice (or noodles) with green onion and sesame seeds.