Tempeh and Vegetable Stir Fry Rice Noodle Bowl

May 13, 2012 · by ·

I’ve given up meat. Completely. It was a long time coming. I first became a vegetarian at age 13. I stopped when I became pregnant with my older daughter. I’ve been mulling this over for a while now. Then, over Shabbat, I realized how put off I am by meat. I don’t have a problem cooking meat. I know how to prepare meat and make it taste good. I don’t have any PETA-like issues with other people eating meat. I just can’t bring myself to eat meat anymore. For now, I will just go back to being a lacto-ovo vegetarian (will eat dairy and eggs). I may one day go vegan, but I think this works for me. I feel better when I don’t eat meat and I am happy with my decision.

Today was one of those days that I needed to go through the fridge, use stuff up, toss stuff out. I found a package of tempeh that I had been meaning to use. Dinner on these kinds of days often ends up being one of those kinds of dishes where 75% of the ingredients could really be anything. It’s what I had on hand. What makes a difference though, is the sauce. Still, everyone was happy with dinner. My younger daughter had a huge bowl of it.

Tempeh and Veggie Stir Fry in a Hoisin Peanut Sauce
Ingredients:

1 8 oz. package of Tempeh, cubed
1 cup of veggie broth
1 onion, diced
6 cloves, chopped
2 tbsp ginger, chopped
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 small zucchini, diced
1/2 package of mushrooms, sliced
1.5 cups broccoli florets
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup baby corn, sliced

Sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce

3 cloves garlic, mashed in to a paste
1 tbsp. ginger paste
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 1/2

tsp. rice vinegar
1.5 tbsp. peanut butter
1.5 tsp. cornstarch
3/4 cup vegetable broth
2 tsp. sesame oil
red pepper flakes (optional)

In a wok or large saute pan, steam the tempeh in the 1 cup of vegetable broth for about 20 minutes.  Drain the tempeh and set aside.

Dry out the wok with a towel.

Saute the onions, garlic and ginger in teh vegetable oil.  Add in the tempeh. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add in the zucchini.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add in the rest of the veggies. Cook for another 5 minutes or so. You don’t want to overcook the veggies.

While veggies are cooking, mix up all of the sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

Pour the sauce over the veggie mixture. Stir and cook for two more minutes.

I recommend serving the stir fry over some rice vermicelli noodles or perhaps some brown rice.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: asian, Dinner, easy, Gluten Free, Main Course, tempeh, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole grain · Tagged: , , , ,

Vegan BLT with Homemade Vegan Bacon

May 9, 2012 · by ·

While browsing Pinterest (such a time suck, but so fun!), I came across some homemade tempeh recipes. From there, I moved on to tempeh bacon. When I clicked through to the bacon though, I learned about the traditional way to make tempeh. You have to let the soybeans ferment and get moldy. You also need a special tempeh starter. Well that totally turned me off. I don’t need instant gratification, and I am willing to go mail- order for something I must make, but this wasn’t going to happen. So I kept on looking.

I finally came across a recipe for a vegan and gluten free tempeh-like bacon that I could handle. I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand. So excited, I had to make the vegan bacon that night. So maybe there was a little bit of instant gratification going on there. 
For a little history, I’ve never really eaten the real thing. Not even in the days when I didn’t keep kosher. I have had beef-fry, bacon salt and bacon bits. I know that those don’t count. I do like a smoky bacony flavor though. So I was excited to try my hand at this. I was doubly excited to turn this in to a BLT. Something I have never sunk my teeth into, but always looks so good. The results were great. The other good thing about this fake bacon stuff is that it freezes well and is pretty versatile.
Vegan Bacon
slightly adapted from No Meat Athlete
Ingredients

1/2 cup dried adzuki beans or other small red beans
1/3 cup whole kasha (buckwheat groats)
1 tsp.onion powder
3 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. liquid smoke
4 tsp. nutritional yeast
2 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tbsp. tamari or soy sauce
1.5 tsp. sea salt
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons maple syrup


Soak the beans and buckwheat in a bowl for several hours. I let it sit while I went to work.

When you get home, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Strain and rinse the soaked beans and buckwheat.

Place all of the ingredients, including the strained beans and buckwheat in to your food processor. Pulse until everything is uniformly ground up and pasty. Don’t puree it though.

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spray with baking spray.

Spread the mixture out on the paper.

Press down on the mixture to spread out with another piece of sprayed parchment.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Slice in to bacon-like strips.

Store and freeze at this point, or cook up like bacon!

Vegan BLT (makes 2 sandwiches)
Ingredients:
1/2 a recipe of the vegan bacon
3 tsp.oil of your choice
Earth Balance buttery stick – a few tabs
4 slices of bread (I used Rye)
Lettuce
Thinly sliced tomatoes
Vegan Mayonaisse (or you could use the real stuff if you are in to that sort of thing)
Fry the vegan bacon on medium in an oiled pan.

Vegan Bacon

Let it get to your desired crispness. Don’t let it go too long or at too high of a heat as it burns quickly.
Set aside on a paper towel lined plate. Keep in a warm spot.
In that same pan, melt some of the Earth Balance.  Toast your bread in that buttery spread. 
Spread mayo on each slice. 
Layer with lettuce then vegan bacon and then the tomatoes. Top with the second slice toasted bread.
You’ve got a sandwich now!  Take a bite! This was so good! 

Vegan BLT


Enjoy!
Filed Under: Dinner, Gluten Free, Main Course, sandwich, Vegan, whole grain · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
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