Tempeh Tacos with a Jicama Slaw

Cost for this recipe: $3.92. Cost per taco (because who am I to determine what's a serving of tacos? For me, it's four...) $ .39. Recipe makes about ten tacos.

I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out, but I had an idea of what I wanted & started experimenting this afternoon. I've made a variation on this before, but I decided it needed chocolate this time. That seems like a safe guess in pretty much every circumstance.

Ingredients:

1 pack of tempeh* (usually found near the tofu in grocery stores)
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1/4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 jalapeno pepper, diced

1 jicama
2 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp lime juice
a few sprigs of cilantro

corn tortillas

Directions:

Crumble the tempeh to a fairly fine texture into a saute pan and add the chili powder, cumin, garlic, oregano, salt, water and chocolate. Stir well & let it simmer over medium heat until the water has cooked away & you're left with something that looks like this:

Peel the jicama with a vegetable peeler. I forget every time I use jicama that it remains a bit fibrous slightly beyond the brownish skin. Don't be like me. Peel it about another 1/4 cm beyond the skin unless you want to be picking chewy things out of your slaw. Grate the jicama using the coarser side of a grater. I'm including a picture for size reference of the jicama I used because you might want to adjust the amount of mayo & lime juice accordingly. I just eyeballed it & kept tasting.

Add the mayonnaise, lime juice and finely chopped cilantro to the grated jicama & mix well.

Now, heat a small frying pan on medium high and brown your tortillas. You can use a bit of oil if you'd like them to crisp up slightly, but it's not necessary.

Spoon equal parts of the tempeh mixture and slaw into tortillas.

Ta daa! Tacos!

*A note on tempeh: It is made of fermented soybeans and often includes other grains. It comes in several varieties. If you're gluten-free, be sure to read the ingredients (not that you aren't already a slave to ingredient labels, I know) because the one I bought contained barley.