Diego Guerrero: Taco-Tempeh (Tolosa beans and cabbage)

2026.05.15

Tolosa Bean and Collard Green Taco-Tempeh

Ingredients

Taco Tempeh
Collard green taco tempeh
Bean cream
Fried collard greens
Leek powder
Pickled jalapeño

2. For the Taco/Tempeh
Collard green (curly cabbage) – 1 leaf
Cooked chickpeas – 150 g
Agar-agar – 0.7%
Gelatin – 1 sheet

2. For the Bean Cream
Tolosa beans – 1 kg
Smoked blood sausage miso – 50 g
Garlic miso – 30 g

Collard green broth

3. For the Fried Collard Greens
Collard green leaf
Sunflower oil

4. For the Leek Powder
Green leek tops

PREPARATION
Taco Tempeh

Trim a collard green leaf, clean it, and blanch it to improve its flexibility and preserve the chlorophyll in the leaf.

Blend the cooked chickpeas with a little of their cooking liquid. Add the agar-agar and the hydrated gelatin sheet, then bring to a boil in a saucepan while stirring continuously.

Allow the mixture to cool to 45°C and begin brushing the collard green leaves, previously arranged on a gastronorm tray lined with parchment paper.

Once coated, and while the mixture is already gelled, inoculate with Rhizopus oligosporus. Cover the tray with plastic film, making a couple of small holes, and ferment at 30°C for 2 days, or until the mycelium has developed.

Bean Cream

Soak the Tolosa beans in water overnight, or for 12 hours.

In an OCOO ceramic pot, place the beans covered with water and add one tablespoon of smoked blood sausage miso. Cook using the Honey Glaze program for 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Remove from the OCOO, strain the liquid, and reserve it.

Place the cooked beans and both misos in a blender and blend with about 50 ml of collard green broth until obtaining a smooth and dense cream.

Fried Collard Greens

Cut the collard greens into a very fine julienne.

Fry at 140°C to lightly dehydrate them, then raise the temperature to 180°C until golden brown.

Transfer onto absorbent paper and reserve.

Leek Powder

Roast the leek tops in the oven at 300°C with the chimney vent open until completely charred and fully dehydrated.

Allow to cool, then grind into a powder. Pass through a fine chinois sieve until obtaining a fine black powder. Store with silica gel.

Finishing and Plating

Light the robata grill and lightly char the underside of the taco until gently toasted.

Fill with a spoonful of hot bean cream and fold in half, leaving the tempeh side facing upward.

Cover the semicircle with a nest of fried collard greens.