tempeh reuben

for my inaugural recipe recommendation: tempeh reuben! an exceedingly popular sandwich that requires a bit of assembly, but is definitely worth the effort. also, it is delicious vegan. cheese=totally not necessary. vegan cheese=also not necessary. there are a lot of good recipes out there, and i am not saying mine is the best. but i am writing to you folks who are not looking for terribly complicated recipes, but do-able, down-to-earth foods they can make without lots of special training. so what i use is this.

dressing:
1T ketchup
2T vegan mayo (i love wildwood aioli, or veganaise)
1/2t mustard
splash lemon juice

'wich:
some bread (this time i used trader joe's whole wheat rye--a twist on tradition)
1/2 package Tofurkey five grain tempeh (or preferred brand), sliced thin
1T earth balance or olive oil
1/2c Bragg's liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
1/2c sauerkraut
1 tomato
1/2 avocado
lettuce

First, slice the tempeh lengthwise as thin as possible without it falling apart. Then carefully put it in the marinade. I usually throw together whatever occurs to me, with Bragg's as the base. You could try some sriracha for heat, a little bit of sesame oil, curry, dried thyme, garlic powder, dehydrated onion, etc. sorry to be vague, but i tend to cook with what i got.

Let the tempeh sit there in its wading pool. It will enjoy a rest before the big debut
.
Now whip up the dressing. All of these ingredients can be adjusted according to taste. Also, if you don't have lemon or mustard, don't sweat it. The ketchup and may will be fine just the two of them. The dressing should be a light pink/salmony color and slightly runny.

Now fry up that tempeh! Lay them neatly next to each other in a lightly oiled, medium-high heat skillet. Flip them (gently) when they get brown and crispy (3-5 minutes usually) and get the other side. As they're cooking, either put earth balance on the pan side of your bread, or oil another skillet. Or just wait, and use the same skillet. Bread goes in the skillet, and slathered with the dressing on both sides. then put cooked tempeh on one side and sauerkraut on the other.
There you go! Doesn't look too exciting, does it? But it will be...

So really all that needs to happen in the skillet (if you didn't sneak in some cheese that requires melting) is for the bread to toast and get nice and crispy. Do check on it after a minute or so-this can happen fast.

Assemble.

Voilà:

Also tasty, and pretty easy considering the timing of the sandwich--slice up a potato fry-style and layer in a pan, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and freshly ground pepper and let them cook at 425F for about 20-30 minutes (flipping once). Again, I know those are lo-fi instructions, but this doesn't need to be exact for me. I'm lazy. I throw stuff in ovens and then eat it.