These golden-crusted tempeh balls are a variation on the ones I included in my last book. They’re nutritionally packed with beans, grated tempeh and shredded veggies, brightened with a splash of ponzu. You can enjoy them on their own, or as part of a larger meal. I had them here as part of a bento-style lunch alongside some wild rice, leftover baked quinoa patties, and edamame. I also like them as a stand-in for traditional meatballs with spaghetti and this mushroom ragù.
Variations
I play around quite a bit with the make-up of these tempeh balls. Keep the ratio of beans to tempeh intact and then experiment with the rest. A few past successes include:
- Spicy: If I’m going to go spicy, I tend to introduce a spicy component through something like this chili crisp. Opting for a drizzle of that in place of the ponzu. That said, you can absolutely spice the actual tempeh balls themselves if you like. Use a bit of chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes, or work a favorite curry paste into the mixture.
- Herb-filled: Swap out the cabbage for chopped soft, green herbs. A blend of chives, dill, cilantro, and basil are all good candidates. I like to trade out the onion for chopped scallions in this version.
- Super Green: Use finely chopped kale, spinach, and/or chard in place of the corn/carrots and cabbage.
What you See in the Photo
I pulled this bento-style lunch together primarily reaching for (leftover and make-ahead) items already in the refrigerator.
- Wild rice: I made a version of this ribollita with wild rice in place of the bread as a Sunday soup, used the leftover wild rice here.
- Hardboiled egg with spices: If you keep hard-boiled eggs on hand, make them special with a quick roll in a favorite spice blend. I used this red gomashio for this version, but there are a lot of other spice blend ideas in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest PDF that members get. Just about any of those are great here. Experiment!
- Baked quinoa patties: quite honestly I like these cold or hot and always bake extra so I have them for snacking. Here I’ve cut each in half and nested them into the box.
- Edamame: Sprinkled here with toasted sunflower seeds, pistachios, and a few dried chive flowers, seasoned with salt.
- Sliced avocado: heavily black peppered. I did a post years ago about how to slice pretty avocados.
- Pan-fried tempeh ponzu balls: recipe below
Pan-Fried Tempeh Ponzu Balls: Step-by-step
These are a breeze to make. The first thing you’re going to do is puree the beans and then combine them in a big bowl with the other ingredients (photo below). As I mention above, I used corn for this version because it’s in season, but you can use carrots.
The key to the next step is getting in there with your hands. You really want to mash and smash and squeeze the mixture together so it’s uniform and all the ingredients are distributed equally (see below).
To shape the tempeh balls, use a tablespoon and your hands. If things get too tacky or messy, rinse your hands and reboot. Keeping your hands damp and clean-ish throughout the process is helpful.
The last step is pan-frying the tempeh balls. My one pro-tip is to let them get a good amount of color on each side before you start to move them around the pan. This way the tempeh mixture is less likely to stick to the pan.
I typically serve these with ponzu sauce. It is quite salty, so I under-season the ponzu balls a bit. If you’re going to serve them with something else, something not as assertive on the salt front, go ahead and adjust the tempeh mixture with more, until it tastes good to you.
More Tempeh Recipes
- Tempeh Curry
- Tempeh Taco Salad
- Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh
- Spicy Tempeh Crumble Bowl
- Garlic Lime Lettuce Wraps
- TLT Sandwich (Tempeh Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich)
- all tempeh recipes
Continue reading Pan-Fried Tempeh Ponzu Balls on 101 Cookbooks
