Smoky Tempeh and Sweet Potato Hash with Kale
Cubed tempeh browned hard with diced sweet potato, smoked paprika, and cumin, finished with torn kale wilted in at the end, cider vinegar off the heat, and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Tempeh took me years to cook well and the answer turned out to be heat and patience. It is soybeans held together in a firm cake, nuttier and more savory than tofu, and it browns like a piece of meat if you cut it into real cubes and leave it alone in a hot pan. Once it has a crust it will take on smoked paprika and cumin the way a potato takes on salt. Paired with sweet potato it gives you the two things a hash needs, something sweet and soft and something savory and firm.
The vinegar at the end is not optional. Sweet potato browned hard is very sweet, and without acid the pan tastes flat and sugary by the third forkful. Four teaspoons of cider vinegar added with the burner off changes the whole thing, and the lime squeezed over at the table does it again. Kale torn in during the last two minutes stays green and slightly chewy, and the pumpkin seeds go on last so they stay crisp and give you something to bite against everything soft.
This is a Sunday night pan in my house, the sort of thing I cook when I want dinner and tomorrow's lunch out of the same skillet. It reheats better than almost anything else I make, since a hash is happy to be crisped a second time. Put a fried egg on top if you want, or eat it with a spoonful of yogurt. It is generous, it costs very little, and it makes the kitchen smell like paprika for an hour.
Ingredients
- 12 oz tempeh, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb), scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1 large bunch kale, stems stripped and leaves torn
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 tsp lime juice, plus wedges to serve
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, divided
Instructions
- Start the sweet potato: Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the diced sweet potato in one layer with a quarter teaspoon of the salt and leave it undisturbed for four minutes, until the underside is properly browned, since sweet potato only takes color where it stays in contact with hot metal. Toss, add three tablespoons of water, cover, and cook six minutes more until a cube gives easily to a knife, because the trapped steam is what softens the middle without burning the crust you just built.
- Brown the tempeh: Push the sweet potato to one side, add the remaining oil, and lay the tempeh cubes in the clear space. Leave them three minutes until deep gold on the bottom, then turn them and give them two minutes more. Tempeh browns better than it looks like it will, and the crust is what carries the spice.
- Add the onion, garlic, and spices: Stir the onion into everything and cook two minutes until it softens at the edges. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, and the rest of the salt, and stir for forty five seconds until the pan turns rust colored and smells strongly of paprika. Keep it moving, since paprika catches in seconds at this heat and turns the whole pan bitter when it does.
- Wilt in the kale: Add the torn kale in two handfuls with two tablespoons of water, stirring each batch down before the next goes in. Cover for ninety seconds. The leaves should go glossy and dark green and still have a little chew, not collapse into softness.
- Finish off the heat: Take the pan off the burner before the cider vinegar and lime juice go in, since both go flat over a live flame, then toss well. Toast the pumpkin seeds in a small dry pan for two minutes until they pop and smell nutty, then scatter them over the top. Serve with lime wedges.
Variations
- Chipotle and black bean: Swap the cayenne for a teaspoon of chipotle powder and add a cup of rinsed black beans with the kale.
- Maple and mustard: Stir a teaspoon of maple syrup and a teaspoon of dijon into the vinegar for a sweeter, sharper finish.
- Butternut squash: Use diced butternut in place of the sweet potato for a hash that browns even harder and eats a little lighter.
- Egg on top: Make four wells in the finished hash, crack an egg into each, cover, and cook three minutes until the whites set.
Storage & Leftovers
This keeps five days in a sealed container and is among the better leftovers in my kitchen. The sweet potato firms up in the cold and the tempeh stays exactly as it was, so the texture holds far better than most reheated vegetable dishes. Keep the pumpkin seeds separate so they stay crisp.
Reheat it in a dry skillet over medium-high for four minutes, spread flat and left alone for the first two so the sweet potato catches again. That second browning is genuinely better than the first. A fresh squeeze of lime at the end wakes the spices back up.
It freezes for three months in flat sealed portions. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in a pan rather than from frozen, since the sweet potato releases water as it thaws and you want that to cook off. Add fresh kale at the end if the frozen leaves have gone dull.
Notes & Tips
- Cut the sweet potato small and even: Half inch dice is the size that browns and cooks through in the same window. Larger pieces need a longer covered steam and the crust softens while you wait.
- Give the tempeh its own space: Cubes piled on top of one another steam rather than browning. Clearing a patch of pan for them, even for five minutes, is what gives you the crust.
- Paprika goes in near the end: It is ground pepper flesh and it burns easily. Adding it after the vegetables have browned, with the heat down, keeps it sweet and smoky rather than acrid.
- Vinegar with the burner off: Acid added to a hot pan evaporates and leaves nothing behind. Off the heat it stays sharp, and it is the only thing standing between this and a very sweet skillet.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Tempeh, sweet potato, and kale each carry a different part of this pan. The tempeh brings the protein and the firm bite, the sweet potato brings the sweetness and a great deal of the potassium, and the kale adds bulk and color for almost no weight.
- Tempeh is whole soybeans held together by a culture, and that fermentation is why it is firmer, nuttier, and easier on many people's digestion than other soy foods. It carries complete protein along with the fiber that comes from using the whole bean.
- Sweet potatoes turn almost custardy in the middle when they are cooked fast at high heat, and their deep orange color comes from beta-carotene, which your body converts to vitamin A. The fat in the pan helps you absorb more of it than a plain baked potato would.
- Kale wilted for ninety seconds keeps its color and its chew, and it holds vitamin K, vitamin C, and calcium in a form that is well absorbed. Brief heat rather than long cooking is what keeps the leaves green rather than olive.
- Smoked paprika, cumin, and cider vinegar are the reason a pan of vegetables tastes like a meal. The smoke gives it depth it did not earn over a fire, and the acid at the end is what keeps something this sweet tasting savory.
- As you eat, find the darkest sweet potato faces and notice how the vinegar keeps arriving after the sweetness does, and let yourself finish the plate slowly enough to feel when you are satisfied.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to steam the tempeh first?
Some people steam it for ten minutes to soften the bitterness, and if you have found tempeh bitter before, it is worth doing. Browning it hard has much the same effect, and modern tempeh from a good producer rarely needs the extra step.
Can I use tofu instead?
Yes, though it behaves differently. Press it well, cut it larger, and expect a softer, milder result. Tempeh has more structure and a nuttier flavor, which is what stands up to this much smoked paprika.
My sweet potato burned outside and stayed raw inside.
The dice were too big or the heat too high. Half inch cubes, a first sear, then a covered steam with a splash of water is the sequence that gets you a browned outside and a cooked middle. The water is doing the real work.
What greens work besides kale?
Collards cut into ribbons need an extra two minutes, chard goes in at the same point and cooks faster, and spinach needs only thirty seconds. Any sturdy green suits this pan, the only difference is when it goes in.