Tempeh Chorizo Crumble with Collard Greens and Lime
Crumbled tempeh browned hard with chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and oregano, cut with cider vinegar and folded through charred poblano and collard ribbons.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Collards going soft in the drawer are the reason this exists, and the kitchen ends up smelling like a Sunday. Grating tempeh on the coarse side of a box grater is the move that makes it, because the shreds have far more surface than crumbles do and they fry into something craggy and browned rather than soft. The spice mix is the old smoky combination of chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and oregano, with a pinch of cloves underneath it that nobody ever identifies. It feeds four with real plates, and it takes forty minutes start to finish.
Order and patience do the work. The poblano strips go in first and stay put until they blister and go floppy sweet, then come out. The onion softens, the tempeh goes in and gets pressed flat and left alone in long stretches so it browns rather than steams, and only then do the dry spices go in with the garlic and a slick more oil, because ground spice needs fat and about a minute to open up. The vinegar goes in next and hisses off, which is what makes the whole pan taste sharp and savory at once. Collards go in last and take four minutes to turn glossy.
It is smoky, tart, and warm rather than hot, with enough chew from the tempeh and the collards that you are actually chewing your breakfast instead of drinking it. I like it in a wide shallow bowl with lime wedges on the side and more cilantro than seems reasonable. It holds four days and gets better, it goes into a tortilla or over rice without complaint at lunch, and on a morning when I have people staying it is the thing I can put on the stove and walk away from for a few minutes at a time.
Ingredients
- 20 oz tempeh (two 10-oz packages), coarsely grated or crumbled by hand
- 1 large bunch collard greens (about 10 oz), stems removed and leaves cut into thin ribbons
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tbsp), plus wedges to serve
- 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Grate the tempeh: Run the blocks of tempeh across the coarse holes of a box grater into a bowl, or crumble them by hand into pieces about the size of a lentil. Grated gives you more browned edges, which is the texture you want here. Set it aside and mix the chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, cloves, and salt together in a small bowl.
- Blister the poblanos: Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high. Add the poblano strips in one layer and cook for four to five minutes, turning once, until the skins blister in dark patches and the strips go limp and sweet. Move them to a plate, since another ten minutes in the pan would take them from blistered and sweet to limp and gray.
- Brown the tempeh: Add the onion to the pan and cook two minutes, then add the tempeh, spread it flat, and leave it alone for three minutes. Toss, press flat, and repeat twice more, nine to ten minutes total, because tempeh only browns where it is pressed against hot metal and a pan that is constantly stirred gives you steamed shreds instead of crisp ones.
- Bloom the spices: Push the tempeh to one side, add the remaining oil and the garlic to the clear space, and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Scatter the spice mix over everything and stir constantly for one minute, since ground spices need hot fat to open up and this is the last moment before the vinegar goes in and the pan is wet.
- Deglaze and wilt the collards: Pour in the cider vinegar and scrape the browned bits off the bottom as it hisses and reduces, about 30 seconds, because everything the tempeh left down there is the flavor of the whole skillet. Return the poblanos, then add the collard ribbons in two handfuls, stirring each down before the next. Cook three to four minutes, until the collards are deep green, glossy, and tender enough to bite cleanly.
- Finish with lime: Take the pan off the heat, squeeze in the lime juice, and stir once. Taste and add salt only if it needs it. Scatter the cilantro over the top and serve straight from the skillet with lime wedges.
Variations
- Sweet potato: Add two cups of small-diced sweet potato with the onion and give it eight minutes before the tempeh goes in.
- Black bean: Stir in a drained can of black beans with the collards for a heartier, softer pan.
- Half tofu: Swap half the tempeh for crumbled firm tofu, which browns softer and takes on the spice mix even more readily.
- Chipotle heat: Add a teaspoon of chipotle powder with the spice mix for a smokier pan with a real slow burn.
- Charred scallion: Finish with a bunch of scallions charred whole in the dry pan and cut into lengths over the top.
Storage & Leftovers
Four days sealed in the refrigerator, and this is one of those pans that is better on day two. The vinegar and the spices keep working into the tempeh overnight, and the collards soften into the mixture rather than sitting separately in it. Keep the cilantro and the lime wedges apart and add them fresh each time.
Reheat in a dry skillet over medium-high for three to four minutes, spread flat and left alone for the first two so the tempeh crisps up again. The microwave will get it hot but the shreds go soft, and the crisp edges are most of the pleasure. A fresh squeeze of lime wakes it up either way.
It freezes well for up to three months, better than most tempeh dishes, because the spice and the vinegar carry it through. Freeze it flat in sealed portions, thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and reheat in a hot dry pan rather than from frozen so the water that thawing releases has somewhere to go.
Notes & Tips
- Grate, do not chop: The coarse side of a box grater turns a block of tempeh into something with ten times the browning surface. It is thirty seconds of work and it changes the dish.
- Spices go in late and in fat: Ground spice thrown into a dry pan at the start scorches into bitterness. Give it a minute in oil after the tempeh has browned and it turns sweet and round.
- Do not crowd the skillet: Twenty ounces of tempeh needs a full 12-inch pan. Any smaller and it steams gray instead of browning, and no amount of extra time fixes it.
- Deglaze while the pan is hot: The vinegar should hiss and disappear in about thirty seconds. That is what lifts the browned crust off the bottom and puts it into the food.
- Steam the tempeh if you are unsure: Ten minutes in a steamer basket before grating softens any bitterness. Dry it well afterward or it will not brown.
- Lime after the burner is off: Cooked lime juice goes flat and slightly bitter. Off the heat it stays sharp and does the job the whole dish is built around.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Tempeh, collards, poblano, and the spice mix each pull in a different direction and meet in the middle. The tempeh gives the pan its chew and carries the protein, the collards add body and a green bite, the blistered poblano brings sweetness, and the vinegar and lime keep something this smoky from sitting heavy.
- Tempeh is whole soybeans held together by a culture, so unlike most soy foods it keeps all its fiber, and that fermentation is part of why it browns into something nutty and firm rather than soft.
- Collard greens hold up to real heat without dissolving, and the calcium in them is the well-absorbed kind, which is unusual among dark leaves. Cutting them into thin ribbons is what gets them tender in four minutes.
- Smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, and oregano are carrying the whole flavor of this pan, and dried oregano in particular is one of the more concentrated things in a spice drawer. The pinch of cloves underneath is what makes people ask what is in it.
- A bowl of this holds you for a long stretch, and the protein and the fiber in the tempeh are doing that together, which is why a breakfast built on crumbles eats like a full meal rather than a snack standing up.
- As you eat, find the crisp browned shreds against the soft collard ribbons and notice how the lime arrives a beat after the smoke does, and give the bowl your attention long enough to feel when you are satisfied.
Frequently Asked Questions
My tempeh tastes bitter. What happened?
Some brands are more bitter than others, and steaming the blocks for ten minutes before grating them takes that edge off almost completely. It is worth doing if you have had a bad experience with tempeh before. Browning it hard also helps, since the caramelized flavor covers a great deal, and the cider vinegar does the rest.
Can I use kale or mustard greens?
Both work at the same stage and the same timing. Mustard greens push the pan sharper and peppery, which is good against the smoke. Kale is milder and a touch sweeter. Spinach is the one to handle differently, since it wants to go in off the heat and be stirred through rather than cooked.
What if I cannot find poblanos?
Two Anaheim peppers or one large red bell pepper will do it. Bell pepper is sweeter and has no heat at all, so add an extra pinch of cayenne or leave some jalapeno seeds in if you go that way. Blister whichever you use, since the char is doing as much work as the pepper itself.
How do I serve this to a crowd?
Double the batch in two skillets rather than one, because a crowded pan steams the tempeh and you lose the browning that makes it. Set the pans out with warm tortillas, lime, cilantro, and sliced avocado and let people build their own. It also sits happily on low heat for half an hour.