Monday recipe

Coconut milk. Is there anything it can’t do?

Tempeh curry with lemon

First things first: curry paste. If, unlike me, you can eat the peanut without fear of anaphylactic shock, or find some bottled curry paste that does not contain trace amounts of that vilest of legumes, use the bottled stuff. Making your own is time-consuming, to say the least, and it’s hard to get the balance of heat and flavor right. If you do want to make your own, you can find a recipe with a quick Googling. You might also consider other kinds of pepper-based flavorings: basically, you want an intense combination of hot, sour, and savory. Improvise.

Once you’ve selected or created the spice mixture, the question is, how much to use? For this particular dish, unless you just can’t stand mild food, I’d advise lowballing it. Otherwise, you’re likely to overwhelm the flavors of the lemon and coconut milk; the heat should be like background music, not getting beaten around the head and neck with a viola.

Ingredients

(serves 2 generously)

curry paste (see above)
8 oz tempeh, cut into 1 inch cubes
juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic, smashed or minced
1 to 1.5 cans of coconut milk
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch dice
3 green onions, cut on the diagonal
1 or 2 carrots, finely sliced on the diagonal
1 cup fresh or frozen peas, corn, or combination
1 lemon, sliced into half-moons
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
canola or other light vegetable oil
salt

Procedure

Combine the tempeh cubes with the lime juice, garlic, and a good pinch of salt in a covered plastic container (or ziplock bag), and put in the refrigerator to marinate. Do this before doing any of the other prep, and let the tempeh stew for at least half an hour.

Drain tempeh. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high. Brown the tempeh in the oil, a few minutes per side. I like to turn each cube individually with chopsticks. This may be a sign of madness. In any case, when the tempeh is well-browned on all sides, transfer to draining rack or paper towels to drain.

Heat a wok or other deep frying pan over medium-high heat. Skim the cream off of one can of coconut milk and add to the wok, with the desired amount of your selected curry paste. Whisk the paste into the cream. Keep whisking. The cream will separate into colored oil and coconut solids, and you will hear (and smell) the spice paste frying. Let it fry for about a minute, then whisk in the remaining coconut milk (and half of another can if you want a very saucy result, or have extra ingredients). Let this cook down for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Reserve a few green onions for garnishing, if you are a garnisher. Add the tempeh, green onion, carrots, soy sauce, and sugar. Now you have a choice: do you want deep lemony, or bright lemony? If you want a mild but pervasive lemon flavor, add 6 or 7 lemon slices now. If not, wait.

Cook the mixture, stirring often, for 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft. Now, if you added the lemon slices in the previous step, take them out. Otherwise, add them now. In any case, add the remaining vegetables. Cook until the red pepper is just barely heated through, remove any cooked lemon slices, garnish with reserved green onions and a few fresh lemon slices, and serve with a side of rice.

Filed under: cooking