You'll love these quick and easy Vegan Tempeh Tacos. They're perfectly seasoned and oh so delicious. These meatless tacos make a hearty and protein-packed meal for busy weeknights or a healthy option for summer entertaining.
1. Prepare a vegan Queso sauce: place cashews in a medium bowl and cover them with 1 cup of boiled water. Alternatively, you can boil the cashews in a small pot for 10 minutes. Drain.
2. In a bowl of food processor add drained cashews, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, water and salt. Process until the sauce is creamy. 3. Transfer the sauce into a small bowl and stir in finely chopped tomato and jalapeño. Set aside.
4, Prepare the red cabbage slaw. Using a long knife or a mandoline slicer, thinly slice the cabbage. I actually recommend you to use a mandoline slicer as it's capable to slice the cabbage super thin. Thinly sliced cabbage works best in slaws.
5. Add sliced cabbage in a large bowl and add ¼ teaspoon of salt. Lightly squeeze the cabbage with your hands to soften it. Add olive oil mix and set aside while you prepare tempeh taco filling.
6. Prepare tempeh taco filling by steaming your tempeh. It will help neutralize its natural bitterness. Cover the bottom of a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water. Set the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Arrange the tempeh cubes in a steamer basket. Set the steamer basket in the saucepan and cover with the lid. Steam the tempeh for 10 minutes.
7. Combine taco seasoning: in a medium bowl whisk chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, oregano, garlic powder, vinegar, water, 1 tablespoon of oil, Tamari and Maple syrup.
8. Add steamed Tempeh into a bowl and use a fork to crumble it into small "ground meat like" pieces. At this point you can either leave Tempeh to marinate for 30 minutes or if you're in a rush, cook it right away.
9. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a 12-inch skillet and over medium heat. Add Tempeh along with all the spice mix and cook stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. If Tempeh starts to stick, add 2-3 tablespoon of water.
10. Heat the tortillas over an open flame or in a dry pan over medium heat. Spoon 1 tablespoon of Vegan queso sauce in the center of Tortilla. Add about ⅓ cup of cooked tempeh taco meat, ⅓ cup of shredded cabbage and 1 tablespoon of cilantro. Drizzle with more queso sauce if desired and serve warm.