Tempayy, 800 year-old food, re-enters market

After working in the hospitality industry for two decades, Siddharth Ramasubramanian started observing the consumption pattern.

He started watching people shopping and eating at restaurants. After three years of research, he understood that the majority of people in India are consuming vegetarian food and the choice has become severely limited when they are looking for highly nutritious food that is rich in vitamin B 12 and iron. This led him to introduce a plant-based, protein-rich food called tempayy.

“Vegetarians in India struggle to find sufficient variety in their daily diets to suit their taste profile and meet the essential protein and vitamins required to meet their nutritional needs. Sometimes, meals can get monotonous, and consumers are looking for new staples on their main plate. When you look at choices for protein, it has come down to a few like paneer, dal, pulses. Today’s consumers are conscious of what they eat and follow healthy trends. When we were looking for ingredients, we came across an 800-year old ingredient called tempayy that was originated in Indonesia. Tempayy is made with three ingredients — soybean, water and a fermentation culture. The product has no added preservatives and is adaptable across cuisines,” says Siddharth Ramasubramanian, founder of the start-up Vegolution.

He adds that, unlike paneer or tofu, tempayy absorbs flavour very quickly. 

“Tempayy dates back several centuries and is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. We have made four ready-to-cook variants — natural tempayy, simply sriracha tempayy, peppery szechuan chilli tempayy and spiced tawa masala tempayy. It is gluten-free, dairy-free and good for the gut,” he adds.