A Warm Indian Curry for a Cold Winter Night

Indian cuisine is great for vegetarians because vegetarian dishes seems to be what they do best!  And now that I have all of the spices, it takes so few new ingredients to make all things Indian: curries, kormas, masalas… you name it.  Tonight I went for a curried tempeh dish.  The only new ingredient I needed to make it?  One small tomato.  I wished this dish had a bit more of a kick, but that shouldn’t be too hard to fix.

But first, our Week 3 Winner: Vegetable and Sweet Potato Lasagna– as predicted, the veggie lasagna went un-topped.

Tempeh in a Creamy Curry-Mint Sauce (Vegan)

from Diet, Dessert and Dogs

Ingredients:

• 8 oz tempeh
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 2 Tbsp  extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 small tomato, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/3 cup smooth natural almond butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
• sea salt, to taste
• cooked brown rice, to serve

1. Crumble the tempeh and place in a skillet with the vegetable broth.  Heat over medium heat until broth bubbles; lower to a simmer, cover and simmer over very low heat until the liquid is absorbed.  Remove tempeh from skillet and set aside.
2.  Melt the coconut oil in the skillet (no need to wash it first) over medium heat and add the onion, garlic and ginger.  Sauté until the garlic and ginger begin to brown and the onion is translucent, 5-10 minutes.
3. Add the tomato, cumin, cardamom, garam masala, turmeric and coriander and cook an additional minute.
4. Lower heat and add the almond milk, almond butter and peas, stirring to melt the almond butter.  Gently stir in the tempeh.
5. Cover and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until flavors have melded and the curry is heated throughout.  Add the mint and heat for another 2 minutes.  Serve over rice. Serves 4

Johanna