First off, happy thirteenth day of unResolution month.  I hope January is speeding along for you.  I know it is for me.

Okay, so something strange happened last night during my first vegan nacho post.  I got really into talking about the different faux meats and making vegan cheese and suddenly I forgot that I wanted to add an ENTIRE section on making tempeh and tofu to top the nachos  Once I finally remembered, it was too late for yesterday, but not too late for today!

So today I proudly offer…

Vegan Nachos Part 2

The inspiration for this dish actually came from an episode of Dinner: Impossible where Chef Michael Symon had to fix dinner for a group of cowboys and their families with one catch…everything had to be vegetarian.  Further complicating things were the fact that the cowboys weren’t in on the surprise (apparently veg*n cowboys are hard to find) and Symon’s bad attitude.

For his nachos, the original concept was to cook and crumble tempeh like ground beef on the nachos.  Good idea…

However, during the episode, some tofu, which was going to be used in sandwiches, got overcooked, dried up, and got chewy.  Rather than let it all go to waste, Symon chopped the tofu and sprinkles it on the nachos like grilled chicken.   So with that inspiration, here is my interpretation of those toppings.

Crumbled Tempeh

To make the tempeh, first we will marinate, then crumble, then cook it very quickly in just a bit of olive oil.

You will need:

• (optional) 2-3 dried chilies
• 1 package tempeh
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoons olive oil

If you want, bring 1 cup of water in a sauce pan to boil and add the dried chilies.  Turn off the heat and let them rehydrate for 10 minutes before putting them into a mini-chop or food processor.  Pulse them 4-5 times.

Put everything but the olive oil a bag and marinate the tempeh up to 30 minutes.  Drain the excess liquid before cooking the tempeh.

Bring two tablespoons of oil to heat over a medium high flame.  Remove the tempeh from the bag, crumble into the skillet, and then dump everything else (the garlic, the spices, etc) into the skillet.  Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the tempeh is dark brown.

Vegan Tofu “Chicken”

The recipe in Dinner: Impossible used peanut sauce, I believe, so I have decided that my recipe will as well.

You will need:

• 1 block tofu
• 2 cups commercial peanut sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Cut the tofu in 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 1/8 inch pieces.

Mix the tofu, peanut sauce, and garlic in a bowl.  Make sure the tofu is evenly covered.

Bake the tofu on a greased cookie sheet for forty-five minutes.

Both of these are going to be pretty dry, so to serve them, put them on top of the vegan nachos so they can get some liquid from the cheese and tomatoes and guac.

And most importantly, enjoy!

Thanks to FotoosVonRobin for the image.