Grilled Corn & Tempeh Salad with Farro, Basil & Mint
This Grilled Corn & Tempeh Salad with Farro, Basil & Mint is a vegetarian dream. There is something about the perfect combination of sweet corn, crispy tempeh, herbs and chilies that makes this salad perfectly filling but also deep with flavor. Add the farro for a bit more sustenance and this turns into the perfect meal prep or weekday meal.
Equipment
- 1 pot or dutch oven
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups farro uncooked
- 4 ears of corn shucked
- 7 ounces tempeh about 1 pack
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon for juice and zest
- 3 small green thai chilies or jalapeños
- 1 small green bell pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 ounces fresh parmesan
To use as needed
- Kosher salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- Olive oil
Optional, for topping
- 1/3 cup corn nuts crushed
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it generously and cook the farro according to your package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Lightly oil a cast iron skillet and put it on medium-high heat. Grill the corn on all sides until it is charred, about 2-3 minutes per side before rotating.
- Crumble up the tempeh into bite sized pieces. Remove the corn from the cast iron skillet and immediately add in the tempeh. Season with salt and let the tempeh cook, tossing and stirring occasionally, until it is golden and crisp on all sides. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Move this to a bowl and set aside.
- Slice the corn kernels off the cob and into a large bowl. In the bowl, grate in 2 cloves of garlic and the zest from 1 lemon. Add salt and a few cracks of black pepper and toss.
- Thinly slice the thai green chilies, de-seed and thinly slice the green bell pepper. Chiffonade cut the mint and basil leaves. Roughly chop up the parmesan until each piece is no bigger than a pencil eraser.
- ***If you are doing this recipe for meal prep, see notes.
- In a large bowl, add the farro, tempeh, corn, chilies, pepper, mint, basil and parmesan. Add the juice from the lemon and a healthy drizzle of olive oil. Mix to combine, taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Pile the salad into four bowls to serve, if you're feeling some crunch, top with corn nuts for texture. And enjoy!
Notes
***If you are using this recipe for meal prep, I suggest storing all the elements separately and then assembling them when needed. This means one container for the corn, farro, tempeh, vegetables and parmesan. This also gives you more flexibility to use the other prepped items for other meals throughout the week!