Sweet and Sour Tempeh

It's taken me a long time as a vegetarian to warm up to tempeh. I've wanted to like it for so long, and for some reason I just couldn't. I tried everything, including steaming before I cooked it and I just.never.liked.it (other than Fakin' Bacon crumbled into guacamole......). I had long ago decided I'd stop trying to like tempeh and just give up on it.

Last week when I was doing my shopping the tempeh just seemed to be calling out to me, so I decided I'd give it another shot. I created this sweet and sour version, and lo and behold, tempeh love! You could of course sub in some tofu if you too are tempeh-phobic. This makes a ton of food, enough to feed 6 easily, so scale it back to feed less, or invite a few friends, grab a bottle of sparkling wine (Gruet is vegan) and call it a dinner party.

Sweet and Sour Tempeh

3 cups fresh squeezed pineapple juice (bottled will work too, but it's not as tasty)

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 Tbs. tamari, shoyo, or liquid aminos

2 pkg. plain tempeh (steamed for 15 minutes, then cubed)

1 red bell pepper, large dice

1/2 large yellow onion, large dice

1 bunch baby bok choy, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 9x11 baking dish combine juice, sugar, and tamari. Whisk to combine. Add in temepeh, pepper and onion, stir to combine and ensure everything is covered with pineapple juice mixture. Cover tightly and bake for 45 minutes. Remove cover, add chopped bok choy, stir to combine and continue to cook uncovered for about 15 minutes. Serve hot over basmati rice.

I served this over pineapple coconut rice. 2 cups of brown basmati cooked in one can coconut milk plus 1 cup of water. After liquid is absorbed stir in 1/2 cup diced pineapple and heat through.