Vegan Breakfast Sausage

From "Tofu and Soyfoods Cookery"
via this blog

Yield: 6 patties

8 oz tempeh - fresh or thawed, frozen
1/3 cup water
2 Tb whole wheat flour
1 Tb olive oil
1 Tb dark miso
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of salt

1. Steam the tempeh for 10 minutes; then cool and grate on the course side of a grater.
2. Combine the tempeh with the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and shape into 6 flat cakes, pressing together firmly. (Add a little flour if the mixture is too moist.)
3. Fry in a hot skillet until browned in just enough oil to keep the patties from sticking to the pan.
4. Drain on a paper towel. The patties can be made ahead and frozen. Separate each patty with waxed paper before placing in the freezer.


Nutritional facts per serving (daily value): Calories 106kcal; Protein 8g (15%); Total Fat 7g (10%)(Sat. 1g (6%)); Chol. 0mg (0%); Carb. 6g (2%); Fiber 0g (2%); Sugars 0g; Calcium 44mg (4%); Iron 1mg (7%)

Miso – All the health benefits of soy. Rich source of nutrients for a flavoring agent. (whfoods.org) High in B vitamins and protein. The live cultures aid in digestion. Antioxidants are more easily absorbed from fermented soy. (Balch 86) Has been shown to protect against breast cancer. (Murray 376)

Tempeh – All the health benefits of soy. Higher in fiber than other soy products, as it is made from the whole soybean. (Balch 187) Source of manganese and phosphorus. (Murray 378) Like miso, provides the benefits of fermented soy.

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This homework assignment was supposed to feature fermented foods and alternate ingredients - so tempeh and miso were obvious choices. This is just a recipe I stole from someone's blog, but we ended up making a similar recipe in class later on. The class recipe was actually more complicated with more elaborate seasoning, and it pretty much tasted exactly the same! I thought it came out well - it really looks just like breakfast sausages! It didn't taste like sausage, or even like "fake" packaged sausage, but I really liked it - and I'm NOT a fan of tempeh usually. I was wary of burning the patties, but actually the more I browned them the more sausagey flavor they got. Froze and reheated in the toaster really well. My only complaint was that the flavor was not very strong. Seeing as how the class recipe had more spices with little effect, the next time I make this I will throw in tons of fresh sage and garlic and see if that kicks it up a notch.

Easy to make and a little cheaper than storebought.

I actually did a cost analysis on this recipe:
8 oz Tempeh - $2.59
2 Tb whole wheat flour - $0.02
1 Tb olive oil - $0.35
1 Tb dark miso - $0.24
1/2 tsp sage - $0.02
Other spices – estimated - $0.05
TOTAL RECIPE COST: $3.27
Price per serving: $0.55