Moo Shu Tempeh

These last couple posts have been inspired by just your average weeknight meal sort of thing. It is not everyday one can make something like an Italian "Beef" Sandwich!

Moo Shu Tempeh

* Prep Time: 1 hour
* Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
* Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 5 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp + 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 4 oz. tempeh, sliced thin*
• 5 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
• 4 button mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup green onions, sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1/2 medium Japanese eggplant, sliced into thin strips
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 14 oz. can chop suey vegetables*
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar*
• 3-4 tbsp hoisin sauce*
• 1 cup napa cabbage, chopped

* Recipe:

1. Combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sake, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 2 tsp cornstarch in a small bowl. This is the marinade for the tempeh.
2. Add tempeh to a small ziplock bag, pour in the marinade mixture, and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.
3. Add 1 tbsp sesame oil to a medium sized frying pan. Heat on medium heat.
4. Add the mushrooms, green onions, garlic, ginger, eggplant, snow peas, bell peppers, chop suey vegetables, salt, and pepper to the pan. 
5. In a small bowl, combine 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp sake, 1/2 tsp cornstarch, and 1/2 tsp sugar. Add to the vegetable pan. Also add the hoisin sauce. Cook for about 10 minutes.
6. While the vegetables are cooking, in small pan add the last 1 tbsp of sesame oil to the pan. Heat on medium heat and add the marinated tempeh. Brown on each side; about 5-10 minutes.
7. In the last several minutes of cooking, add the tempeh and napa cabbage to the pan with the vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes.
8. Serve with moo shu wrappers, tortillas, or homemade moo shu pancakes.

* Note: I used Lightlife Organic Garden Veggie Tempeh. It's my favorite out there. For chop suey vegetables, I used La Choy brand. Feel free to use fresh been sprouts and some canned water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, etc. Make sure your sugar is vegan! For hoisin sauce, I used the Iron Chef brand at the store. Personally, I didn't care for it. I'm sure there are a lot of other brands out there that are better. Now I know!


To serve this, I used a really basic homemade moo shu pancake recipe I found. It wasn't amazing and I added some egg replacer to it. I would recommend trying to make a much more fancy moo shu pancake recipe. I remember how they taste and this was not doing it for me at all. In contrast, if you are feeling lazy or don't want to mess with the pancakes, just use tortillas. I couldn't find any moo shu wrappers in the store, but from Googling, they all seems to have egg in them. If it were me next time, I would just toast up some tortillas!