RAINBOW COBB SALAD WITH TEMPEH

I have never tried tempeh before. Cooked as below, it is a yummy option to use instead of bacon if you want to have a vegetarian meal. The combination of all the salad ingredients are so delicious, you need to be careful if you are on a diet, because you certainly want some more! A very easy and low calorie salad. Excellent for your lunch box. It is only 271 calories and it takes about 10 minutes preparation and about 10 minutes cooking for the tempeh. Healthy recipe that you can use if you are doing the 5:2 Fast diet.

INGREDIENTS
1 boiled egg
2 tsp red wine vinegar or any other finishing vinegar
1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium tomato or 5 cherry tomatoes
20g cos lettuce, chopped
2 radishes, thinly sliced
25g Roquefort or Stilton blue cheese, crumbled
25g tempeh
1 spring onion, finely chopped
Freshly ground sea salt and pepper, to taste

Tempeh
100g tempeh
4 tsp soy or tamari sauce
4 tsp cider or white wine vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
sea salt to taste
1/2 tsp olive oil

METHOD:
To make the tempeh: slice the tempeh into the thinnest slices you can. It it crumbles a little, it doesn't matter.
Place the soy or tamari, vinegar, syrup and salt in a small microwavable plastic tub, replace the lid and shake to mix. Put the tempeh pieces inside, close and turn again to coat.

With the lid loosely resting on the tub (to let the steam to escape during cooking), microwave the tempeh for 30-40 seconds, until the liquid has almost gone.
When you are ready to use it, heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the strips of tempeh over a high temperature, turning so both sides go crispy and browned, but do not burn: it'll take 2-3 minutes on each side.

Serve hot or at room temperature. (You will have left over tempeh, so you can leave it on the fridge after microwaving it and fry only the amount you need).

Arrange each ingredient in 'stripes' across a plate, contrasting the colours: tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, egg, blue cheese...
Season with pepper and sprinkle with the olive oil and vinegar.
Add the tempeh on top of the lettuce, and sprinkle the spring onion on top of the salad.

Serves 1