Tempeh Stir Fry with Gingery Black Bean Sauce

Black bean paste is a Chinese condiment made from fermented soy beans. It is salty and quite pungent. This recipe results in a somewhat mild black bean sauce, not as strong as some I've had at restaurants. I think broccoli or green beans would be an excellent addition to this stir fry if you have some on hand.

Stir fry:
Canola oil
1 T sesame oil
3 red Chinese chilies, 2 whole and 1 crushed
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin quarter-moons
1 package tempeh (12 oz), cut into thin slices or cubes
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced med-thick
2 T ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
2 green onions, sliced into long diagonal pieces
1 more green onion, thinly sliced, for garnish

Sauce:
1 c water
1 T cornstarch
3 T black bean paste
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar, preferably Chinese black vinegar
1 T sugar

Whisk all sauce ingredients together. Heat a little canola oil in a large skillet. Add chilies, cook over med-high heat for 1 minute. Add onions, cook until they begin to become transparent. Add sesame oil, tempeh, and carrots, stir fry until tempeh starts to brown and carrots are just starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and celery, stir fry until vegetables are just barely done. Add garlic and ginger, stir fry for 2 minutes. Add sauce and green onions, cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Serve over brown rice with extra green onions as garnish.

Kung Pao Tofu (updated!)

Soft tofu in a spicy, sweet sauce with crunchy peanuts. This is so good it's become almost a weekly feature in our kitchen. Don't be scared by the number of chilies, the ones you leave whole add more flavor than spice, just be sure to avoid eating the whole chilies unless you're really tough! This is best served over rice with a simple side of stir fried leafy greens such as bok choy or napa cabbage.

Sauce:
4 T brown sugar
1.5 T cornstarch
5 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
3 T balsamic vinegar
2 T water (or sake)

Marinade:
1.5 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 t salt

Everything else:
1 lb firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1.5 T canola oil
10 whole dried red chilies (the kind sold as Chinese or Thai chilies)
1-2 crushed dried red chilies (vary the amount to suit your desired spice level)
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced into thin circles
6 cloves garlic, diced
2 T fresh ginger, grated
1 bunch green onions, roughly chopped
1 generous handful peanuts

Whisk together marinade ingredients and pour over tofu cubes in a small bowl. Allow to marinate while you prepare the vegetables and sauce.

Whisk all sauce ingredients together.

Heat oil, add whole and crushed chilies and cook on med-high heat, stirring frequently, until chilies are a little blackened and very fragrant.

Reduce heat to medium and add tofu. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.

Add carrots, stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add bell pepper, garlic, and ginger, and stir fry until carrots are cooked but still crunchy, about 3 minutes.

Add green onions, cook for 1 minute more.

Add sauce, cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in peanuts. Served garnished with a few extra slices of green onion.

Chinese Chili-Orange Stirfry Sauce

Simple ingredients, scrumptiously complex flavour.

Ingredients:
3 T orange marmalade
2 T soy sauce
2 T sake
2 T water or orange juice
2-3 t Chinese chili paste
2 t cornstarch

Whisk all ingredients together with a fork. Pour over an almost-done stir-fry and cook, stirring frequently for five minutes, or until sauce has thickened. Serve over rice.

I made this tonight to go on a stir-fry composed of:
1 small onion, sliced in half moons
1 garnet yam, sliced in matchsticks
2 ~8 oz packages seitan
3 stalks celery, sliced medium-thick
6 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 bag frozen (shelled) edamame

Cook the onion in a little canola or sesame oil until just soft;
add the seitan and sweet potato, cook on high med-high heat until the seitan is lightly browned;
add the celery and garlic, cook for 2 minutes;
add edamame, cook until edamame is heated through;
add orange sauce, cook five minutes.

The best plum sauce Branden has ever tasted!

This was phenomenal! We had some plums that needed to be eaten immediately, and once again, the urgent eat-it-now-before-it-spoils feeling lead to a creative success. We served this with rice, seitan pan-fried until crisp, and a stir-fry of carrot, baby bok choy, and bean sprouts. It would also make a great dipping sauce for fried tofu, spring rolls, etc. It does have a lot of ingredients, but don't be scared, it isn't hard to make.

.75 lbs plums, pitted and chopped
.5 c water
Half of a medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T ginger, minced
A quarter of a lemon, juiced
.25 c brown sugar
1.5 t teriyaki sauce
1.5 t soy sauce
1 t chili paste
.25 t ground cloves
.25 t ground allspice
3 T water
1 t cornstarch

Put everything except the water and cornstarch in a pot and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whisk cornstarch into water.
Pour sauce into a blender, add cornstarch and water mixture, puree.
Pour sauce back into pot, cook for another ten minutes.

Cashew gravy

Simple, creamy, healthy gravy. Great with mashed potatoes, stuffing, or warm biscuits. All you need is a blender and a sauce pot. My favorite gravy recipe ever!

2 c water
.5 c cashews
1 T cornstarch
1.5 t onion powder
1.5 T braggs
2 T nutritional yeast

Puree cashews with 1 c water, until completely smooth (no chunks at all!).
Add remaining ingredients, puree until combined.
Pour gravy into a pot, cook over med-low heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil.
Remove from heat and let sit for about five minutes before serving.

Udon Stir-Fry with Tofishies and Thai Peanut Sauce

Last night, this was simple, quick, and yummy.

0.5 lbs shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2T fresh ginger, diced
1 head's worth of broccoli stems, peeled and chopped thin
1 can sliced water chestnuts
2*200g packages of Udon noodles (cooked, or lighter wt dry)
0.5 head garlic, diced
1 head's worth of broccoli florettes
3 green onions, chopped, as garnish

Stir fry in that order, more or less. Serve with one batch of Tofishies and Thai peanut sauce.

4 Flavour Thai Peanut Sauce

We make this all the time, literally. Every batch is different---adjust ingredients to taste. It's great on stir-fry, rice, and noodles. It'd probably keep well, but we've never been able to save any.

0.5 c peanut butter
1t Thai curry paste
1-2 limes, juiced
1-2T rice vinegar
3-5T soy sauce
1T agave nectar or honey
dash black pepper

Mix, then let sit for the flavours to meld. The sooner you put in the curry paste, the better. More agave nectar will counteract the spice; more black pepper will intensify it. The trick is to balance spicy, sweet, salty, and sour. Thin with water or coconut milk to desired consistancy.

Sichuan Eggplant and Seitan

This is a super yummy recipe for a dish I love to eat at Chinese restaurants, but have never been brave enough to make myself before. It turned out to be really easy to make. If you don't have seitan, you could use tofu or tempeh, or just add more eggplant. I used cayenne pepper for the spice, but next time I will use Chinese chili paste.

6 asian eggplants, sliced diagonally
1/2 pound seitan, chopped
Black pepper, to taste
1 head garlic, roughly chopped
Oil for cooking
Sauce:
2 T. water
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. braggs
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 t. brown sugar
1 T. cornstarch
Cayenne pepper to taste
Any leftover marinade from seitan package
Green onions, sliced diagonally
Sesame seeds

Stir-fry eggplant in a little oil until soft, set aside.
Fry seitan in a little oil until lightly browned, season with black pepper.
Add garlic, stir-fry about five minutes, don't let it brown.
Meanwhile, whisk sauce ingredients together.
Add sauce to seitan, stir until coated.
Add eggplant, combine thoroughly.
Cook for another five minutes.
Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, serve with rice.