A simple recipe for people who, like I, have simple tastes and simple cooking skills. Thanks to Mummy and Little Sister for teaching me how to make a vegan breadcrumb coating (I didn't know!). Unfortunately, now I am breading everything.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread of your choice OR pre-made breadcrumbs
• 1/2 pack (approx 100g) of tempeh
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup flour of your choice
• ~1/4 cup vegan milk of your choice
• seasonings of your choice

Method:

If not using pre-made, make the breadcrumbs: break the bread into smaller pieces, and blitz in chopper until you get fine crumbs. Bake on a dry tray at gas 2 (150C, 300F), turning halfway through, for about 20-30 mins, until they are dry and crisp, and slightly brown. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, steam the tempeh. This is an optional step, but I've heard that tempeh can be bitter if not steamed beforehand, so I always do this step.

I leave them in the steamer for about 15 minutes.

Allow to cool, while you assemble the ingredients.

I like to break the tempeh into cubes, but you could also keep them long, like veggie fingers. Whichever shape you use, take your first piece, and coat it in the flour. You can mix in the seasonings with the flour.

Then coat in a layer of mylk. It's best to use separate hands for the dry and wet parts otherwise your hands will end up a sticky mess. I always ignore this rule 🙁

You can repeat this step of coating in flour and milk one more time (or two!). I always do.

Alternatively, mix the flour with enough mylk to make a batter, then use that to coat instead. Mix the seasonings in with the batter.

Then coat well in breadcrumbs. If you're going to grill rather than fry, you can add a few drops of veg oil into the crumbs first and mix well. This will help the crumb coating brown, but you don't need to do this if you want a low fat version.

And continue until they are all breadcrumbed.

If frying, leave to set in the fridge for about 30 minutes, otherwise the crumb coating may come off. I prefer to grill, because it's healthier.

After they've set, you can either grill on a low heat for 10 mins or so, turning halfway through or, deep fry or shallow fry, any is fine. When they are cooked, the crumbs will go brown and the tempeh bites should float (if frying).

And that's it! Simple, but so so addictive!