Sambal Marinated Tempeh

I thought I had already posted this recipe as it is our favourite marinade for tempeh but apparently not. I marinated two blocks overnight and used Vegilante's mung bean tempeh and it was AWESOME! My favourite tempeh ever.

Have you tried Vegilante's tempeh yet? They are taking orders online and delivering free in the Kelowna area so support this amazing local business: www.vegilante.ca

This recipe is an adaptation from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. She is a vegan guru and has a website as well: www.theppk.com


Amazing Marinated Tempeh

1 or 2 blocks tempeh of your choice, defrosted

1/2 cup red wine of your choice
1/4 cup sambal oelek (or sriracha or other hot sauce of your choice)
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne

Fill a frying pan half full with water and bring it to a boil. Poach the tempeh for 5 minutes. Some people don't poach but we always do. We prefer the flavour of poached tempeh. If you've not had tempeh both ways, try them and see what you prefer!

Slice the block in half so that the block is half as thick then cut into 4 so that you have 8 pieces per block.

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a dish with a lid and place the tempeh in the marinade. You want to make sure all the tempeh is in the marinade. Marinate the tempeh for an hour or more. If you can leave it overnight, it's even better. Shale the container gently from time to time to mix the marinade over the tempeh.

You can bbq or bake or actifry the tempeh. We actifry it for 10 minutes at 400 then flip it and cookit another 15 minutes. BBQ is delicious too. You want it to be crispy around the edges. We put the extra marinade in a small pan and reduce it then spread it on the cooked tempeh.

This makes excellent sandwiches too!

Local? Organic? February? (and a guacamole recipe)

My rule of thumb is local and organic always first, local second, organic third, and, well, that leaves everything else. I try to eat seasonally and I don't buy asparagus in November. I have admitted to buying blueberries in January but I find the first three months of the year a hard time to survive on seasonal fruits and veggies.

This is my time of year to indulge in tropical fruits. They seem to be in season at this time of year but maybe it's just my deep desire for these fruits instead of floury apples and yet another type of orange that makes me think they are in season. An environmental sin of the highest degree but as I am a pretty strict environmentalist, I allow myself this digression. I can always go to Vegan Church and ask for forgiveness at confessional if it weighs too heavily on my mind.

At Choices this weekend, I came across a fruit I had never seen before. I do not claim to have seen all the fruits in the world but it is rare to find a fruit on the Canadian market that I haven't tried. This new fruit is part of the citron family and is called Buddha's Fingers because it looks like a gnarled hand with long fingers (did Buddha have these types of hands?!) The fruit grows closed hanging from branches and the fingers spread when the fruit is ready to be picked. I was so excited to see something new! I paid the exorbitant price (you don't want to know) and tried a slice of a finger when I got home. Internet sites say that these fruits are mostly used to scent rooms as they are very fragrant but they can also be eaten raw or used in recipes calling for lemon peel. That's about all you could use them for as they are only peel and pith - no fruit inside at all. I wonder where the seeds are. The taste is bitter and lemony - exactly what you would expect of lemon peel and pith. Mum will be making a couple jars of Buddha's Fingers and orange marmalade. I hope Buddha approves!

Another favourite fruit that Pap used to go looking for in Chinatown in May is mangosteen. I don't know how anyone ever decided to eat one of these because it is a very hard maroon tennis ball that requires a serrated knife to cut through. You only cut through about 1cm of the shell all the way around and then you peel away half of the shell to reveal a beautiful white fruit flower inside. The number of segments on the "flower" on the bottom of the shell of the fruit indicates how many segments there are in the fruit. Make sure there are no yellow spots on the shell or else the fruit will have sulphur deposits and it is then totally inedible. Quite a disappointment when they are expensive. I always buy just two in the hopes that at least one will be good. Success this time as both were great! The biggest segment has a pit in it but the rest should be just blissful fruit! When we were in China we would buy bags of these for 15 cents. None was ever sulphury either.

So my fruits of January are pineapple, mangosteen (pictured cut open), rambutan (not pictured here but maybe I'll find them to share with you), avocado, kiwi, papaya (pawpaw), and longan. These are also an Asian fruit that have a thin tan shell that pops open when you squeeze the fruit fairly hard. There is a comparatively large stone inside so don't just bite down. These are very refreshing fruits and are Corey's favourite. The Buddha's Hand is just in there because it's cool. You can see that it's just amass of white pith inside. I won't buy another one until I can get bags of them for 15 cents to scent my rooms in China!

And because I like to add a recipe, here is my guacamole recipe. We used to eat this on top of well salted steaks off the bbq when I was growing up. Now I like it with tortilla chips or veggies.

vO Guacamole

Mash together:
1 large ripe avocado
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp sambal oelek (don't use anything else unless it's sriracha which will do in a pinch)
1 chopped green onion (yes, I do add this as it is a vital part of the flavour)
salt and pepper
 
I'd love some feedback if you have time... are there recipes you'd like me to share? More of a certain type of recipe? Vegan lifestyle info? How to be a healthy vegan?  Let me know! I've learned quickly that being vegan is easy and yummy. I'd love to share what you want to know.

I LOVE TOFU part 1

Many people tell me that they could never be vegetarian and especially not vegan because they can't stand tofu. That's because they haven't had GOOD tofu. I do have to be honest though and admit that I love tofu so much that I eat it raw while I am preparing it for other dishes.

I am going to offer you a variety of ways to prepare tofu so that hopefully you will enjoy this great source of protein. And no, it does not cause breast cancer or man breasts or any other hormonal problems. Look at the Chinese - they are not a culture of breasted men and they eat a lot of tofu. Worried that your tofu might be made with GMO soy beans? Then eat organic tofu. Either way, man breasts aren't going to bud overnight (or ever) if you add tofu to your diet.

Easy Grilled Tofu with Peanut Sauce (or any sauce you want to make!)

one package of extra firm tofu
If you have the time, put the tofu on a a plate with a lip, put another plate on top and put something heavy on top of that (I used a bag of navel oranges today but a big can or cookbook or whatever you have on hand)

Turn on your broiler to high.

While your tofu is pressing, make the peanut sauce:
1 small can of light coconut milk (about 150ml)
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
3 tsp sambal oelek or other chili paste
1/2 tbsp half-salt soy sauce
1/2 tsp tamarind paste (I am sure this can be optional - how much can 1/2 tsp affect the taste?)
1 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp ground coriander (go to Abby's Spice and Tea Store on Kirschner for the best and freshest spices)
freshly ground back pepper

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and on medium-high heat, stir while it comes up to a boil. Turn down the heat to just below medium, stir one minute then remove from the heat and let cool. You can add water or more coconut milk if it's too thick when it's cool.

Now for the tofu.

Cut the block into 1/4 inch slices - I can get 16 slices out of a tofu rectangle. You can spray your cookie sheet with Pam or use parchment paper or a silpat mat or if you are not afraid, just place the tofu on the cookie sheet. Place under the broiler. When it starts to turn light brown, flip. The tofu may require a bit of convincing if you've just put it on the sheet but it should be flip-able. Brown the other side. The outside will be crispy and the inside will be soft.

Dip the tofu in the peanut sauce. YUMMY! And if you don't like tofu, you won't even be able to taste it.

My Search for the Perfect Vegan Pad Thai - Recipe #1

I LOVE pad thai. It is my favourite dish at the Mon Thong by the movie theatre. I always ask for no shrimp and extra tofu (and no green onions either - yuck) but I am sure that there must be shrimp paste lurking in there anyway. Almost all my vegan recipe books have pad thai recipes. It was my goal to have a pad thai week over the Christmas break where we would eat nothing except pad thai until I found the ultimate recipe but I never ended up even making one. Finally tonight I decided to try. I was going to be lazy and use a bottle of vegan pad thai sauce that I had bought at the Asian supermarket but (1) it had expired 2 months ago and (2) there was more sugar than anything else. I decided to not be lazy, cooked a package of flat rice noodles, and went in search of my first pad thai recipe in my cookbooks.

Pad Thai #1 - Modified from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein

1 package of dried, flat rice noodles cooked according to directions then drained and rinsed in cold water. These cook fast so don't leave them for more than 5 minutes.
1/2 tbsp tamarind paste mixed with 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp ketjap manis (if you have none then add another 1/2 tbsp each of soy sauce and brown sugar)
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
1 tsp minced ginger
1 pkg firm or extra firm tofu cut into 1/2" cubes
1 cup snow peas or cabbage or peppers or carrots or a mix of them all
1 cup bean sprouts rinsed and blanched in boiling water to wash off any salmonella yuckies
1 green onion (yuck - this is entirely optional)
1/4 dry roasted peanuts

Mix the tamarind, water, soy sauce, ketchup, lime, sugar, sesame oil, and ketjap in a bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in a wok and when the oil is hot, toss in the chili flakes and ginger. Stir that around a few minutes then toss in the tofu and let the sides brown a bit. Add the veggies, toss, cover and let them steam cook themselves until they are of your desired crunchiness. If water develops in the bottom of the pan, let that evaporate before adding the tamarind liquid mixture. Mix into the veggies and bring that up to a boil. Toss in the noodles and mix it all together.

In your individual bowls, place a pile of bean sprouts. Serve the Pad Thai on top. Garnish with green onions (yuck - really, you don't have to) and the peanuts. Eat with a fork. The Thai don't use chopsticks.


My review... yummy but not the pad thai taste I am searching for. It's the right texture although it's a little too wet. I could have let the sauce cook down more. I would certainly make it again and Corey really liked it. He isn't a pad thai fanatic so his ability to compare to restaurant versions is limited.