Korean Braised Tempeh

This spicy braised tempeh dish, inspired by dubu-jorim is coated in a savoury, spicy sauce seasoned with lots of spring onions and toasted sesame seeds.

This simple tempeh recipe will have you ACTUALLY like tempeh – it’s air fried to the perfect crisp (you can also pan fry it) and coated in a spicy soy sauce with lots of spring onions and sesame seeds for the ultimate flavour. It makes a nice pairing with rice, noodles or anything really from spring rolls to wraps and sandwiches.

Tempeh is not commonly used in many Korean dishes but tofu is – as it soaks up all the flavour and is an amazing source of protein. Just like tofu, tempeh is also incredibly versatile, so you can add it as a substitute to most dishes while still getting the same spicy or sweet flavours. It also makes the flavour of tempeh less ‘strong’ as it’s ultimately still a fermented dish, so you can’t really tell it’s tempeh.

One more thing about this recipe is that you can use tempeh the way you buy it – no boiling required! It involves a simple two-step process air-frying the tofu until golden brown and crispy (yes it gets crispy even without corn starch), then braising them in a spicy-soy sauce loaded with chopped scallions. The aroma is wonderful!

Ingredients You Need

• Tempeh: using fresh tempeh would be ideal so the flavours are maximized.
• Spicy-soy sauce: light soy sauce, sesame oil, gochugaru and coconut sugar to balance out the spice
• Aromatics: spring onions – add both white and green parts but reserve some of the green for later! You can also use garlic, depending on your preference.
• Garnish: toasted sesame seeds and green onions

Gluten free substitutions: Use gluten free light soy sauce.

Allium free substitutions: Unfortunately, this recipe requires scallions but you can always omit it. A good substitute might be coriander – if you don’t mind the strong flavour and aroma.