Ginger-Soy Marinated Tempeh Salad

Alternate Post Title: “Sauce you could drink out of a giant mug.” Sadly, that seemed a little vague, and I wanted you to know what kind of sauce I made that you can drink out of a giant mug….

Cue garlicky, fresh, light, sweet, gingery, lightly cilantro-y, soy marinade.

There’s this addictive restaurant here in Sac called Orphan that is one of the absolute best brunch places ever. Which explains why it has a long line of people waiting at 9 in the morning on a Sunday, and why that wait turns into a 45 minute to an hour wait by 10:30. And yet we all wait anyway. Totally worth it.

They have awesome food. They’ll turn almost anything vegan for you. They serve amazing drip coffee and sell spectacular coffee beans which I really need to buy next time I’m out of coffee…..

I totally intend to remake their artichoke scramble, avocado scramble, their sweet breakfast tamales, and a vegan version of every kind of amazing pancake special flavor they have (we’re talking chocolate peanut butter banana, pumpkin pecan, lemon ricotta, soooo many more.)

But today I’m starting with the sauce. They have a Zen Breakfast, a bowl mixed with brown rice, tofu, spinach, and this incredible ginger-soy sauce. The last time I went there, I ordered their fantastic sweet breakfast tamales with beans and asked for them to sub the eggs they came with for tofu. Usually, they sauté up some plain tofu that is perfectly delicious but made even more delicious with some of their super salsas. But this time, this time, my waitress asked if I wanted to have plain tofu or the amazing ginger-soy tofu. Ummmmm duh, ginger soy! It may have been the perfect breakfast.

Anyway, the very next day I set about my first trial of this sauce, and it was already so dang good. I’m sold. I need to make a quadruple batch and pour it on ALL the things.

But for now, this salad.

ginger-soy marinated tempeh salad

serves 2
for the sauce:
1/4 C low sodium soy sauce (or tamari)
2 t honey (or maple syrup)
1 clove garlic, finely minced (half would be fine if your garlic is strong, you don’t want it too dominant)
2 t minced ginger
1 T very finely minced cilantro
2 T water

Whisk everything together.

for the tempeh:
3 oz tempeh, thinly sliced
1 t oil of choice

Soak tempeh in the marinade. I only soaked mine for about 20 minutes, and it absorbed an awesome amount of flavor. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat, and add the tempeh. Be careful to drain the marinade out or it will splatter everywhere. But save that leftover marinade, it’s going to become salad dressing! (One of the best things about being vegan is saving your phenomenal marinades and eating every last drop! Hooray, no contamination!!!)

for the salad:
4 C romaine lettuce
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 small cucumber, sliced
1/4 small onion, diced
1/4 bell pepper, diced
1/4 avocado
2 T crispy onions on top
1 T reduced fat vegan mayonnaise

Pile everything except mayo on salad plates. Top with the temph. Mix the vegan mayo with the remaining marinade and pour on top of your salad. Hello, amazing dressing 🙂

How GORGEOUS is that salad?!?! Seriously, it’s so satisfying.

I’ll probably post a whole lot more with this dressing, but I stole a couple ideas from Orphan’s menu and had a few others I wanted to share immediately so you can enjoy this sauce in as many ways as possible before I get more recipes up:
** Breakfast Bowl: brown rice + tofu + steamed spinach + lots of ginger-soy sauce
** Lunch Bowl: brown rice + tofu + veggies sautéed in spicy orange chili oil (whaaaa??) + ginger-soy sauce + peanut sauce! [OMG, MUST go there for lunch]
** use as a dip for fresh summer rolls (!!!)
** any and all stir fries

Happy eating!