I am largely unfamiliar with tempeh as an ingredient. I've used it a few times, but not enough to regularly put it on my shopping list. Wikipedia tells me that tempeh is a soybean cake made by fermenting cooked soybeans, which are formed into a firm, dense, chewy cake with a yeasty, nutty flavor. My tempeh was called "5 grain" which makes me wonder if it was made out of other grains. In any case, it is high in protein and pretty good for you if you get organic tempeh.
I chose this recipe because it had a really pretty picture. As it turns out, this would be a nice dish to make for company - it is super yummy and very pretty. I'm sure you meat eaters could substitute chicken or something for the tempeh.
This is basically a stir fry, served over rice. I used basmati rice (because I already had it in my pantry), but Deborah suggests black rice, also known as forbidden rice. I would like to try that next time.
This dish is pretty easy - though it still took me almost an hour start to finish, including setting the table. First you start the rice. Then you make a marinade of 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup mirin (Japanese cooking wine), 2 T. brown sugar, 1 T. maple syrup, 1 cinnamon stick, and 2 star anise. You cook this mixture "at a lively pace" for 4 minutes. I assumed this meant that you bring it to a boil, but not a big boil and let it cook for a couple minutes at the little boil stage. Not sure if that was right, but it seemed to work out.
While the marinade is coming up to temperature, I cut the tempeh slab into 4 quarters, and then cut each of those in half diagonally to make 8 triangles. (Next time I would cut the big slab in half lengthwise so it isn't so thick and so you get more delicious little tempeh pieces on your plate.)
You turn off the heat to the marinade and put the tempeh triangles in to soak. Meanwhile, you chop up 1 garlic clove, 1 bunch of scallions (slivered diagonally), a handful of cilantro, and you grate 1 T. fresh ginger. I found out that if you grate ginger on a microplane grater, it turns into a thick liquid - not what you want for this recipe. The regular large grater you use for cheese works much better. Then you slice (not dice) 4+ cups red cabbage, 1 red pepper, and 1 yellow pepper. I'm glad I used the red and yellow, because the red, yellow, purple cabbage color combination is really pretty.
Remove the tempeh from the marinade. She says it only needs 4 minutes of soaking, turning once in the middle of the soaking time. I left it for the length of time it took me to chop the other ingredients. Heat up some oil in a wok or skillet (I used peanut oil, which was a perfect flavor combination with the rest of the dish), and cook the tempeh triangles about a minute on each side. Then add a few tablespoons of the marinade and let it glaze the tempeh. Set aside the tempeh and wipe out the pan.
Heat up some more oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger and scallions for 30 seconds or so. Add the veggies, season with salt & pepper, and stir fry until just wilted. Reserve about half a cup of marinade for serving at the table, and pour the rest over the veggies and add the chopped cilantro. Cook for 30 seconds or so.
Mound rice on plate, top with tempeh triangles, add stir fry over top, and top with roasted cashews. I bought raw cashews and had to toast them myself. I had forgotten that they went in this dish at all, so my serving was delayed by toasting the cashews.
This dish is gorgeous, super-yummy, and nice enough for company. I will make this many more times. The wine pairing suggestion was a Mendocino sparkling rose. I found a French sparkling rose, but it was a little too intense for the dish. I think a light pinot might work well, too.
What I'd do differently next time: I'd toast the cashews toward the beginning and have them standing by, or I would buy roasted cashews. I would cut the tempeh slab in half lengthwise to make it less thick. I would store the leftover rice separately from the leftover veggies, tempeh, and cashews. The rice absorbed all the juices and got too soggy.
Approximate Cost to prepare:
Tempeh - $2.80
Cabbage - $.85
Cilantro - $.20
Red & yellow bell pepper - $2.95
Scallions - $.50
Ginger - $.15
Cashew - $1.00 (I used more than was called for)
Rice - $.50
Marinade - unknown. I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Maybe $1.00?
Garlic, oil, salt, pepper - negligible
TOTAL without wine - $9.95
Sparkling wine - $8.99
This served 2 people, with enough leftovers for another meal.
No comments:
Post a Comment