In the spirit of my more recent posts where I cut to the chase and get straight down to business aka the recipe, here we go!

Note on the recipe: the focus here was on recreating umami flavors of the bolognese sauce mixed in with Parmesan cheese. So, what you’ll see is a lot of umami ingredients: tomatoes, mushrooms, and marmite.

(Please note that I still enjoy writing and cooking, but the pandemic had imposed some restrictions on how much writing I can do. I will try to stick to sharing the recipes as they come, and I hope you don’t mind the decreased quality of phots which I don’t have time to stage these days. So, unlike the photos, food remains yummy.)

Tempeh Bolognese Sauce

What you’ll need:

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 5-6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 8 oz white or crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons marmite
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 8 oz (226 g) tempeh
• 1 28 oz (794 g) can crushed tomatoes
• Optional: fresh oregano and/or basil

What you’ll do:

1. Place a large frying pan over medium–high heat. Once the pan is hot add the oil and onions. Sauté for 5 minutes, or until onion have softened. Note that onions, garlic and mushrooms don’t need to be finely chopped, rough chop/slicing is ok.
2. Add garlic, stir well, and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Mix in the chili powder and marmite, then add the sliced mushrooms. Toss everything to combine and sauté for another 3-5 minutes, until mushrooms are done.
4. While onion, garlic and mushroom mix is cooking, crumble the tempeh into rough crumbles into the large food processor (you can also use a hand held blender stick, in which case crumble into a large mixing bowl).
5. Add the sautéed mix into the tempeh and process until finely chopped and mixed. Please note that the mix will be hot, so handle with care.
6. Pour the contents of one large can of crushed tomatoes into the same frying pan you used for sautéing and place over medium heat. Add the tempeh mix, and gently fold everything in and combine. Once it starts to bubble, tomato sauce will start to spray all over so cover with the lid to minimize splatter.
7. Cook for 10 minutes or so with occasional stirring.
8. Serve immediately over pasta (my latest discovery is lentil and chickpea pasta, including the spaghetti), and sprinkle with fresh basil and/or oregano. Enjoy!

Copyright © Eat the Vegan Rainbow, 2020