The Breast Cancer Cookbook’s Ginger Tempeh Skewers with Soba Noodle Salad

Tempeh, made from fermented and compressed soya beans, is like tofu’s bigger and stronger cousin. It is delicious marinated in a honey and ginger dressing, then grilled with courgettes and mushrooms and served with a simple soba noodle and Asian vegetable salad.

Ingredients
Serves 4

225g packet tempeh
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp clear honey
4 tsp low-salt soy sauce
2.5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 small courgettes, each cut into 8 slices
8 shiitake mushrooms, halved
160g soba noodles
4 spring onions, finely sliced
100g radishes (large and/or small, finely sliced)
100g sugar snap peas, halved
juice of 1 lime

Method

Cut the tempeh into 16 equal-sized pieces. For the marinade, put the rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, soy sauce and ginger into?a ziplock bag and shake to combine. Add the tempeh, seal the bag and turn a few times to coat the tempeh in the marinade. Leave in the fridge for an hour.

While the tempeh is marinating, soak 8 wooden skewers in warm water (to prevent them catching and burning under the grill).

Preheat the grill to high. Remove tempeh pieces from the marinade, reserving the marinade, and thread onto the wooden skewers, alternating with the courgette slices and mushrooms so that each skewer has 2 pieces of each.

Brush the tempeh skewers with a little of the marinade and grill for 5 minutes each side until golden and sticky.

Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add soba noodles, give them a stir to stop them sticking together, and simmer for?6 minutes or according to the packet instructions.

Drain and rinse under cold water to refresh. Drain well.

Toss the noodles in the reserved marinade and add spring onions, radishes, sugar snaps and lime juice. Serve the tempeh skewers with the noodle salad.

The Breast Cancer Cookbook by Professor Mohammed Keshtgar (Quadrille, approx €29.99) is out now. Photograph by Jan Baldwin.