Tempeh Wings, Things, and Stumps

TEMPEH WINGS!

I like tempeh and I like wing sauce. After much searching, and trial and error, I have found the best combination of recipes for tempeh wings (or things, or stumps, or fingers, or whatever you want to call them). These are simply marvelous, fantastic, and finger-licking good.

To make the tempeh wings, I followed this recipe and post of The Ordinary Vegetarian's Tempeh Hot Wings.  I think the recipe has gone viral, as I have found it on many vegan blogs, but Sarah's directions are really easy to follow, and I kept getting distracted by all the other delicious recipes she has posted (which I hope to add to a future week of meals).

To make these really crunchy, put the steamed tempeh in the soy milk/rice milk, dredge in flour, re-dip in the soy milk/rice milk, and then dredge in the breadcrumbs. I used Panko breadcrumbs, soy milk instead of rice milk, and smoked paprika.  Honestly, I will put smoked paprika into anything. I had to increase the baking time by about 20 minutes, but I think you can put them in and take them out when browned enough.  Toss in wing sauce once they come out of the oven.

I liked the simplicity of Vegan Dad's wing sauce: half margarine and half wing sauce.  His post on making your own vegan wings was pretty impressive.  I utilized butter and Thai sriracha sauce with a splash of Tabasco to very appetizing results.  I have 3 kinds of hot sauce in the pantry, and I just couldn't justify buying another one.  I can't wait to try the BBQ sauce, and the number of other appetizing recipes.

I served up my tempeh "things" with some coleslaw:


This coleslaw utilizes the seasonings of a ranch-based dressing, in yogurt thinned with water.

Ranch-Yogurt Coleslaw:
Serves 4
1/2 of a medium head of green cabbage, shredded or sliced thin. I prefer slicing, because the shredding just destroys the cabbage
2 carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, chopped

For coleslaw dressing:
1/2 cup or more plain yogurt (the European yogurt I buy is runnier than US yogurts, so I think I used 3/4 cup of yogurt thinned with 3 T of water).
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried mint
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp salt
fresh black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix together cabbage, carrots and bell pepper in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, combine yogurt through black pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings.
3. Thin the yogurt with approx. 3 T of water. If the dressing is too thick, thin with more water.
4. Stir into cabbage mixture and adjust seasonings if needed.