Tempeh Joes

I will warn you up front, I don't love sloppy joes. Never have and likely never will. But, my fella made a request for sloppy joes made with tempeh. Since he almost never makes such requests, I was happy to oblige. I cheaped out and used a can of sauce because I was in a rush, but I did make some little changes. And, I made some homemade buns, which were super yummy. Here's the link to the recipe I use (skipping the "wash" and instead brushing on some melted vegan butter after baking to keep the tops soft). As much as I don't generally enjoy joes, I do plan to try some lentil joes because I'm determined to find some kind of joes that I might possibly enjoy. The fella LOVED these tempeh joes a LOT...and he considers himself to be a Joe Aficionado of sorts. 

I used 1 1/2 blocks of tempeh. I cute it into cubes and steamed it about 8 minutes to take a little of the bitterness out of the tempeh. Then, I ran it through my food processor to cut it into little pieces. I minced 2 cloves garlic, diced 1/2 cup onion and 1/3 cup green bell pepper. I added those veggies into a skillet with a little oil and sauteed until the onions were transparent. After that, I added the tempeh to the skillet along with the can of sauce. Then I mixed in some garlic powder, onion powder, a pinch of cumin, some chili powder and a bit of sugar to mellow the tang of the sauce. Mix it all up and simmer for at least 5 minutes to get the flavors all mixed together. Serve with some mustard and tuck in. This should make about 6 large sandwiches.