JB's PDG Tempeh Gravy

I made the tempeh gravy Tuesday evening, and was very pleased with the results. And, as always, learned something. What I learned about the tempeh was that when I'm trying to brown it, do it by itself, don't do it with the onions in the pan with it. It's too easy to end up with burnt onions, but not nice and crispy tempeh crumbles. Having said that, I'll explain how I made this gravy...and without any recipe, btw.

First I put about a tablespoonful of evoo and one of margarine in a big skillet...the one I have is non-stick, but if you don't have one, well, don't sweat it. I diced up half a medium onion, and an 8-oz. package of tempeh, and when the oil and margarine were good and hot, put the onion and tempeh in the skillet, and just let them brown, stirring fairly often, probably for about ten minutes or so. During the last few minutes, I added a good teaspoonful of minced garlic, and some salt and pepper. The tempeh seemed to have sucked up all the grease, so I added about another tablespoonful of oil, this time using safflower oil, as I didn't really want the evoo taste in the gravy. Then I put about an 1/8C of all-purpose flour over the mixture, stirred it in well, and let it cook for a couple minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. Then I added about a cup or so of soymilk...really don't know quite how much, just until I thought it was a little too thin, because as it cooks, it's going to thicken up. Brought the whole shebang to a gentle simmer, let it simmer for just a few minutes, and there it was: tempeh gravy!

Did I like it? Well, it was ok, and I'll probably make it again sometime, but believe it or not, the next time I do, I'm going to add a few squirts of honey to it. There was a slightly bitter taste in it, and I think a little honey would be just the thing to get rid of it.

Yesterday at Kroger, I bought another package of tempeh, and I also bought a honey-based bbq sauce to try, so one of these days I'm going to try bbq tempeh again. Don't hold your breath waiting for this one, tho, as it's going to be awhile before I do. Tempeh just isn't one of my favorite things, altho I'm still hoping to find a way to use that I really, really, really like.

One of my plans for either today or my next day off is to try to make a Chocolate-Banana-Coconut Pie, with...ready for this?!?!?...a Rice Crust. Over on the foodieblogroll, the ingredients for the January Royal Foodie Joust(RFJ from now on)are coconut or coconut milk, rice, and bananas. My immediate reaction to those was "PUDDING!" Then I gave it some more thought, and decided that maybe a pie could work, too. So, I bought the grated coconut and some bananas, as well as some more silken tofu, and I already have the cocoa powder and rice. Sooooooo, I'll let you know how it turns out. Seems to me that it should be absolutely rich, creamy, and good!!!

Until next time, Happy Eating!