Tempeh with Shoyu Butter from Near and Far cookbook by Heidi Swanson
“You don’t have to like everyone but…. “
I don’t know exactly what is supposed to come after that phrase in the real world, but in my culinary imagination “everyone” is tempeh and what comes after "but" is “try to cook with it one more time before you say you hate it.”
So I did that. And I can say I officially don't like tempeh :( But thanks to this Tempeh with Shoyu Butter recipe by Heidi Swanson, that honestly does a lovely job of making an unappetizing food item passable, I can say that I now have a new friend -- Shoyu Butter. Mmmm. Doesn’t it just sound yummy?
These fringed hemp-linen napkins are some of my favorites from a recent dyeing session. 5 dips in the indigo vat is what it took to get this deep shade of blue.
Shoyu, Japanese soy sauce, has a higher wheat content than Chinese soy sauces, giving it a slightly sweeter taste. Mixed with a bit of sugar and a few pads of melted butter, shoyu forms the base the umami rich sauce that lightly coats the steamed tempeh and sautéed cabbage in this dish.
Given that steamed cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables, with it’s sturdy yet slippery texture and slightly sweet taste, and shoyu-butter and I were now friends, I decided to make this dish again – minus the tempeh. And it was not only delicious, but easier to eat, since I wasn’t busy fishing out the tempeh. The shoyu-butter was free to roll into all the nooks and crannies in the cabbage, and the sesame seeds and green onions added a welcome crunch and spice. It was like my friends and I had the playground all to ourselves.