Back in my bloodmouth days, chicken tikka masala was one of my favorite things to get while eating out. Obviously I don't do chicken anymore, so I tried to make some using tempeh, served over couscous.
As usual, I started by gathering my ingredients.
For the tempeh:
A block of tempeh
1/2 cup greek yogurt (regular yogurt is probably fine)
A teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, paprika, and salt.
A tablespoon of lemon juice
For the sauce:
A can of tomato sauce
A clove of garlic, minced
Crushed red pepper
Some onion and some cilantro, roughly chopped
A splash of olive oil.
For the couscous:
Equal parts couscous and water
1 teaspoon salt per cup dry couscous
A splash of olive oil
First I made a marinade out of the yogurt, lemon juices and spices.
Then I chopped my block of tempeh into nice bite-sized chunks...
And mixed it all together!
After shaking it to make sure the tempeh chunks were good and covered, I popped this into the fridge for a half hour or so.
When they were ready I laid the chunks out on a baking sheet (saving the remaining marinade for the sauce!) and broiled each side for a few minutes to get a good browning. Meanwhile I started on the sauce.
First I sizzled the garlic and onion in a bit of olive oil with some crushed red pepper. If I had a jalapeno, I'd have used that instead.
When the tempeh was good and browned, I poured the can of tomato sauce and the remaining yogurt marinade into the pan and mixed it all up, then mixed the tempeh in. I then simmered it on low while I made the couscous.
Couscous is great. It's like rice, but made of wheat. Wheat is great. Couscous is also much easier to cook than rice. First you start with equal parts couscous and water, a teaspoon of salt for each cup of couscous, and a bit of oil.
You first mix the oil and salt into the water and boil it, then stir in the dry couscous, cover and take the pot off of heat, then wait like 5 minutes.
When the timer beeps you just remove the lid and fluff it up a bit with a fork.
By the time the couscous was done I was feeling pretty confident that the tempeh tikka masala was about ready. So I ripped up some cilantro and mixed it in, then scooped some onto a bed of couscous on my plate.
It was a bit different from the chicken tikka masala that I used to have. If I were to make it again it would definitely have to be spicier, but as it stands it still made an awesome lunch.
Aloo gobi is a totally awesome Indian potato and cauliflower dish and one of the first vegetarian meals I learned to cook when I gave up meat. This recipe is loosely based on the one I found at Manjula's Kitchen (which is fantastic, by the way.) Aloo gobi is great on its own, or wrapped in a tortilla like a burrito.
As usual, I started by gathering my ingredients.
For this recipe I used:
2 Medium potatoes (I like red potatoes, but any will do really)
2 cups of Cauliflower
1-2 cloves Garlic
Some onion
1-2 jalapeno peppers (not pictured)
Cilantro
Salt, pepper, olive oil
Spices (coriander, turmeric, paprika, cayenne pepper, and cumin)
I chopped the cauliflower and potatoes into bite-sized pieces, minced the garlic, and cut the pepper and onion into some prettyful strips.
Meanwhile I got the spice paste ready. To make it, I mix a tablespoon of coriander, a quarter teaspoon each of turmeric and cayenne, and a half teaspoon of paprika. I then mix in enough water to easily be able to easily pour the spice mixture without it all sticking to the bowl.
I heated some oil in the pan, then once it was hot I sprinkled in a half teaspoon of cumin and then mixed in the garlic, onion, and jalapeno. After a few seconds of that, it was time to pour in the spice mixture, then potatoes and cauliflower. I also add a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper.
After covering it with a lid, I let the dish cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every 3 or 4 minutes. The cooking time can be pretty variable, but you can test it by poking a potato bit with a fork. If the fork sinks in and all the liquid has evaporated, it's probably good and done. When I feel like eating it as a burrito, I'll place a tortilla on top of the lid while cooking. The steam escapes just enough to get me a nice and warm chewy tortilla.
I am a genius.
When the potato was cooked, I ripped up and mixed in some cilantro, took the pan off the heat, and dished up.
The end result was a nice and spicy vegetarian dish that serves 2-3. The heat level can easily be adjusted by adding more or less cayenne or adding more/removing the jalapenos.
When I was a kid I always really liked chicken and dumpling soup. I don't eat chicken anymore, but dumplings are still a major comfort food for me. This morning I made a very simple hot and sour dumpling soup.
I started by gathering my ingredients. For the dumplings themselves I used a half cup of flour*, a teaspoon each of sugar and baking powder, a splash of sesame oil, and a quarter cup of milk. To make the recipe vegan, I imagine you could just replace the milk with water. For the broth, I used a veggie bouillon cube and about a tablespoon of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and Frank's RedHot (not pictured) each.
*All-purpose flour might actually be better for this, but I only had bread flour on hand and screw it, gluten is awesome.
First, I mixed up the dry dumpling ingredients in a bowl, then added a splash of sesame oil and the milk. I then stirred it until it took shape. The dumplings don't need to be kneaded, but I like mine very heavy so I squished the ball around in my hand some.
Gorgeous.
While I was getting everything mixed up, I boiled about 2 1/2 cups of water and then dissolved the bouillon cube. I then added a tablespoon of rice vinegar and soy sauce, and lots of hot sauce.
Gotta have hot sauce.
When the broth was all mixed up and at a good boil, I broke the lump of dough into a couple pieces and plopped them into the pot. These were actually a lot bigger than I usually make them and so took a bit longer than usual to cook. I'd normally recommend making 6-8 dumplings rather than 4 like I did.
I then turned down the heat to a medium-low, covered the pot, and simmered the dumplings for about 20 minutes, turning them over at the halfway point.
When they were done, I dished up a bowl and gave it plenty of pepper and crushed red pepper. I usually like some cilantro in it too, but I was all out.
It's a super easy recipe that can be done half asleep for a tasty hot breakfast.
So I discovered not long ago that I really like sauteed kale. It's easy to make and goes wonderfully with fried eggs and toast for breakfast.
To start, I gathered my supplies. I ended up using two eggs, two slices of bread, 2 kale leafs, a clove of garlic, a bit of olive oil, and entirely too much crushed red pepper.
Ok that was a lie. You can never have too much red pepper.
To prepare the kale, I sliced the clove of garlic into thin slivers and roughly broke the kale up with my hands. Kale cuts real easily, but it also makes a satisfying snap when you break it.
I started by heating a bit of oil in a pan, then once it was hot I added the garlic and red pepper. You want to cook it until it's soft but not necessarily browned yet.
When that seemed ready enough, I added the kale and just a little bit of water to the mix and stirred it all up. It cooks until it's a bit wilted and the water has evaporated. I like to put the lid on the pan for a few seconds at the start to help it cook down, and also to keep the hot oil and water from splashing at me.
Once it looks good, I transfer it to a plate and start on my eggs and toast. Fried eggs are super easy and go well with both the toast and the crunchy garlicky kale.
This is why I am not a vegan.
When the eggs are fried and the toast is done and buttered (margarined?), they are transferred onto the plate and everything is given plenty of salt and pepper.
I was pretty stuffed by the end of this. Maybe next time a single egg will do.
So today my aunt invited my family to a barbecue. As a vegetarian in a family of carnivores, I was left to fend for myself. I made a buffalo tempeh sandwich.
First I made the bread. Bread is delicious and you should bake some.
Eat all of the carbs.
Bread is really easy. First you need some bread ingredients.
bread ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
a splash of oil
1 cup water
I used bread flour but ap flour works just fine. I prefer to cut my bread flour with about 50% spelt flour, but I was all out.
First I mixed up my all dry ingredients. I know some folks like to put the yeast in some water first but this seems to work out alright. When it was good and mixed, I poured in a splash of oil and the water and mixed it all up. Then I turned it on the counter and kneaded it until it looked delicious.
Look at that delicious ball of dough.
I covered the dough with a damp washcloth and started working on the tempeh. Tempeh is awesome. Way better than tofu. I have never been able to get tofu firm enough for me but tempeh is super easy to work with and one block is good for like three sandwiches.
I chopped the tempeh into thirds, then split those to make 6 flat strips. I stacked the strips in a ziploc container like lincoln logs and poured a half cup of Frank's RedHot over them. After shaking to make sure everything was covered, it went in the fridge until I was ready to grill them.
After about an hour the dough had doubled in size so I shaped it and preheated my oven to 450 degrees. The dough was wet and tricky to shape.
Once the oven was preheated I stuck the dough in and waited about 20 minutes, then let it cool for an hour or so. It was hard not to eat it straight out of the oven.
So tempting.
When I got to the barbecue, I was horrified to see that they weren't having burgers, but rather huge racks of ribs putting off tons of smoke and covering the grill in meat ick. I wrapped my tempeh in two layers of aluminum foil and tried to keep them as separate as possible, but it was still questionable as hell.
No! Get away from my delicious food!
While the tempeh was cooking, I went into my aunt's kitchen to make a sauce for the sandwich. It was very simple really. I just melted 2 tablespoons of margarine in a saucepan and poured a bunch of RedHot in, including the leftover sauce from soaking the tempeh.
I also cut the bread and then used a broiler to lightly toast the inside so that the sauce wouldn't soak through.
When I felt the tempeh was probably done, I brought it into the kitchen and gathered my other toppings: the sauce, some fresh kale, and some pepperoncini rings.
I coated the tempeh and the insides of the buns with the sauce, then layered the ingredients and made myself one hell of a sandwich.
Best part is, I only used half the loaf and a third of the tempeh block, so tomorrow's lunch is covered!
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