Random Recipe of the Week: Two Bean Tempeh Stir-Fry

Like every other stir-fry, this dish comes together very fast in the end, but the prep takes a few minutes. Prepare the tempe, sauce and chop all of your vegetables before you even heat up your large frying pan. The trick to a good stir-fry is to not over cook your vegetables!

1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut to about 2" pieces
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup cooked beans (I used pintos, but you could try anything)
1 package tempeh
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup arrowroot starch (you can also use cornstarch)
2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tbsp olive oil

Prepare tempeh:
If you haven't used tempeh before, don't worry, it's easy to prepare (you could actually just eat it right out of the packaging) and it never fails to surprise me how delicious it is!

1. Bring a small pot of water to boil
2. Cut tempeh into 1/2" strips
3. Place tempeh into boiling water. Turn down temperature slightly and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Drain, then place in a heated & oiled frying pan.
5. Drizzle tempeh with a small amount of soy sauce
6. Saute for a few minutes on two sides. When browned, remove from heat.

Prepare sauce:
1. In a small bowl mix together water, tomato paste, soy sauce, starch, red pepper, and ginger. Set aside.

Start stir fry:
1. Heat large frying pan with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. When pan is hot, add onion and garlic. Saute for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the green beans. Saute for about 5 minutes (make sure they are still crunchy!)
4. Add tempeh, beans, and tomatoes. Stir to combine.
5. Pour in the sauce and stir to cover all the vegetables.
6. Let the sauce boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 4 minutes.
7. Take the pan off the heat. Let the dish sit for couple of minutes; the sauce will thicken.


You can serve this on top of noodles, rice, or any grain. I ended up serving it over some leftover spagetti squash, which I highly recommend! It added a little bit of sweetness to dish. Delightful!