How to Marinate Tempeh? Several possibilities

by Abbas Jahangir · June 23, 2021

Tempeh is a soybean cake. Tempeh itself tastes a bit stale and sour. You can eat Tempeh as is, but when you marinate it is much tastier and can be used in different dishes in different ways. This blog is about marinating Tempeh.

What to marinate tempeh with?

Soy sauce
Lemon juice
Lime
salt
Pepper
sesame oil
Agave syrup
Sambal
soy sauce Manis
laurel
Ginger

Because tempeh absorbs flavors easily, you can experiment with all kinds of herbs and seasonings. Do what you like.

In this blog are examples of ingredients that can be used. Maybe you have other ideas of your own. I would say try it out. Your taste buds are not mine!

Tempeh Marinating Ketjap

1 block of tempeh
10 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Splash of neutral oil or sesame oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Sambal oelek

Cut the tempeh into slices of about 1 centimeter. You can make the tempeh smaller, just what you want.

Make a marinade of soy sauce, oil, lemon juice and sambal by stirring the ingredients together.

Put the marinade in a container that just fits the tempeh. Add the tempeh and make sure the tempeh is completely in the marinade. Let the marinade soak for at least half an hour.

You can now fry the tempeh in some oil in a frying pan. Bake for about 5 minutes over medium heat until the tempeh is a nice brown color.

Delicious on a sandwich with fried onions and peanut sauce or with the fried rice. Also delicious in a salad.

Tempeh Marinating Indonesian

For the vegetable version:

200 grams tempeh
sunflower oil
2 medium red peppers
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
pinch of salt

Cut the tempeh into strips. Make the strips half a centimeter thick and then 3 centimeters long.

Now you have long thin strips that are fried in the oil. This can be done in the deep fryer, but can also be done in a frying pan with oil.

The oil should be 180 degrees. Deep-fry the strips for 4 minutes until nicely browned. Do not put too much in the pan at once because then the strips will not all brown at the same time and you will have pieces of unbaked tempeh and other strips too dark.

Even if you use the deep fryer, do not put too much tempeh in the basket. The oil then cools down too much and has to warm up again for too long. This is about the tempeh.

Now to marinate:

Remove the skin from the garlic and put the garlic in a bowl for the immersion blender. Chop the red peppers and remove the seeds. Also put the red pepper in the bowl with the garlic.

Add 1 tablespoon tomato paste and 1 teaspoon salt and mix together. This has now turned into a paste.

Put the pasta in a wok and let it fry a little until it starts to smell. This will take a few minutes. Then add the tempeh and stir well. Now add the ketjap manis and stir well again.

Let it cook on a high heat for about 2 to 3 minutes. Keep stirring so that it doesn’t stick, otherwise lower the heat. You have prepared the tempeh nice and tasty with marinade.

Tempeh Marinating Soy Sauce

1 block of tempeh
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 cm ginger or 1 tsp Ginger powder
2 cloves garlic pressed
3 bay leaves
3 tbsp agave syrup (or more)
Half cup of soy sauce
Sambal to your liking

Peel the ginger thinly and make it small. Put oil in the wok and make it hot. Add the chopped garlic to the wok and stir briefly. Now add all the ingredients for the marinade to the wok and stir well. Let it cook for a while but keep stirring so as not to burn it.

Now fry the diced tempeh. Put oil in a wok or turn on the deep fryer at 180 degrees. After about 4 minutes the tempeh cubes are nicely browned and they can be removed from the fat.

Toss the tempeh cubes and the marinade together. Now you can marinate the tempeh nicely.

You can eat these cubes with rice and vegetables, but also with noodles or fried rice. Also delicious as a snack in between! Serving on a stick makes it extra fun and delicious.

Steaming and Marinating Tempeh

8 tbsp soy sauce manis
Juice of half a lemon or less
1 tsp Sambal oelek

Make the marinade while the tempeh is steaming. Combine all ingredients and stir well.

Tempeh doesn’t always have to be fried for it to taste good. Steaming tempeh is also an option. Then you can marinate it.

Steaming tempeh is not difficult if you have a steamer basket. It can also be done in a colander that fits in a large pan. There must be a lid of the pan that closes the pan properly.

Good! Steaming:

Place the steamer basket in a large saucepan. The bottom of the steamer basket should not be submerged in water otherwise the tempeh would start to boil. So put a small layer of water in the pan and let it boil. Place the tempeh in the steamer basket and put the lid of the steamer basket on. Place the basket in the pan. Let it steam for about 15 minutes. When the lid starts to clatter, turn the heat source down a bit. Do not tilt the lid, you will remove the steam effect. After 15 minutes, remove the tempeh from the pan (careful, steam is hot). Let the tempeh evaporate for a while and cut the tempeh into cubes.

Put the steamed cubes of tempeh and the marinade together and stir well. Now you can marinate the tempeh nicely.