Tofu Curry

 From March 1, 2009...  This is another one I really need to revisit.  It's sort of in the spirit of a thai curry, but uses almonds, rather than peanuts.   The sweet and spicy combination with the almonds and coconut milk really made this dish.
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1T butter
2t olive oil
2t walnut oil
1t sesame oil

1.8oz ginger, peeled & minced

1/2t black mustard seeds

whole spices:
1/8t anise seed
1t coriander
1t fenugreek
1t cumin
1t black pepper
3 cardamom pods
2 dried thai chilis

other spices:
1/4t cinnamon
1/4t allspice
1t turmeric
10 grinds nutmeg

1/3 cup ground almonds
1 can coconut milk
1 can water
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1.5T soy sauce

1/2t salt (to taste)

1 package nasoya fresh (not silken) tofu, cut into little cubish bits (1/2" x 1/2" x 1-1/2" bits or so)

Heat a pan on medium heat until it's hot. Add oil and butter. When butter has melted, and oils have mostly mixed, add onion, garlic, mustard seeds, and mushrooms. Stir occasionally until the onions are starting to carmelize (10 or 15 minutes). Add ginger and mix in and cook for about 1 minute. Meanwhile gather up the whole spices and grind them up. Mix in with the ground spices, and add the spice mixture to the hot stuff, and mix that in and cook for about 30 seconds. Add tho coconut milk, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, and ground almonds. Stir to mix up and bring to a simmer. Add tofu. Make sure tofu is covered with sauce, and return to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, then uncover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over rice.

Thai-Style Tempeh and Asparagus

I cooked this on September 22, 2008.   I've made something similar a couple of times since, but I should really revisit this one this spring.   My comment when I wrote down the recipe:  "Tastes like summer."

Tempeh is one of the more interesting meat substitute type things.   Mostly (to me) due to the fact that it has some texture that tofu really can't reproduce.  

Remember that this is stir-fry, so have everything chopped up on a board next to the stove, ready to shove into the wok at a moment's notice.
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4oz tempeh

Marinade:
1/2t lime - juice
1/2t sesame oil
1T soy sauce
1T rice wine vinegar
1t hoisin sauce

Cut tempeh into sticks and marinate for at least 15 minutes, turning occasionally.

Sauce:
Outer part of the lower section of lemon grass stalk
1/4 veggie boullion cube
1/4 cup hot water
1T soy sauce
1T rice wine vinegar
1/2t sesame oil
1/2t lime -juice
1 1/2 t sugar
1/2 t ground white pepper

Flavor veggies:
1 thumb-sized knob of ginger, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small thai hot pepper, diced
The heart of one lemon grass stalk

Veggies:
1/2 onion, chopped into sticklike pieces
6oz asparagus, after breaking ends off, cut into ~2" pieces
3 stalks of bok choy, leaves cut into 3" squares, stalks cut into piece of a similar size to the asparagus

finishing:
1/3 cup unsalted dry roasted cashews
2t of cornstarch in 2T of cold water, stirred up.

Put 1T of walnut oil (I thought I was buying peanut) into a wok, and got it hot. Added the marinated tempeh to the hot oil, and let it sit while I shook the pan around some, to keep it from sticking. After a minute or two, I turned the tempeh over and let
it cook for another minute or two, so it would get a nice little crust on both sides. It absorbed almost all of the oil, and I let it cook mostly dry for another 30-45 seconds before dumping it out to a rack. I added another tablespoon of walnut oil and got it hot, and then added all of the flavoring vegetables and stirred them around in the oil for 10-15 seconds (until they were fragrant, i.e. until the pepper made me cough) before adding the onion and bock choy stalks. I stir-fried that until the onions turned translucent, maybe a minute and a half, and then added the asparagus and stir-fried that for another minute and a half before returning the tempeh and adding the bok choy leaves. I continued to cook everything just until the leaves started to wilt, and added the sauce and cashews and let it cook for another minute. Then I re-stirred and added the cornstarch mixture and cooked for another 30 seconds before pulling it off of the heat.

Serve over brown rice.