North Carolina Style Tempeh Barbecue

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 lb tempeh, sliced diagonally, about 1/3 inch thick
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 chipotle pepper
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste (i used tomato sauce here)
• 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup (*see note at top of recipe) or 2 tablespoons molasses (*see note at top of recipe)
• 1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup brewed coffee (or roasted grain substitute *see note at top of recipe)
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 4 whole grain sandwich rolls, toasted

Recipe

• 1 in a large skillet, place a steamer rack.
• 2 place water in skillet, not touching the steamer rack.
• 3 place tempeh slices on rack and steam 15-20 minutes.
• 4 place on paper towels, remove rack and wipe out the skillet.
• 5 place oil in skillet and over medium heat, fry the tempeh on each side until golden brown.
• 6 remove and place on paper towels to drain.
• 7 add onion to skillet and saute over medium heat until onion is lightly browned, about 8 minutes.
• 8 add whole chipotle chile and cook 2 minutes more, until onion is browned.
• 9 add vinegar to release brown bits from bottom of the pan.
• 10 stirring in each ingredient gradually, add tomato paste, barley malt, mustard, vegetable stock, and coffee.
• 11 simmer until mixture is almost reduced by half.
• 12 remove chipotle, slice in half and remove seeds, mince and return to sauce.
• 13 add browned tempeh and simmer about 10 more minutes.
• 14 divide tempeh and sauce evenly among buns and serve with coleslaw, either on the sandwich or on the side.
• 15 i actually serve this on tortilla wrappers with rice and it is great like that!