To Tempeh or not to Tempeh that is the Question

I love Indian food and there's a local Indian restaurant just down the street, which serves delicious chicken tiki masala, but since I'm not doing meat, that won't work. There is also the issue with cream that is generally added to the sauce, which is something I'm trying to stay away from since I sound like a cat hocking up a fur ball every time I consume a dairy product.

As I was wandering through the grocery store I spied a sale on tempeh, which is rare in our neighborhood. I like the texture of tempeh and it has a kind of nutty flavor, nothing like chicken but I decided to give it a try.  Before I could get started tho I needed to find a vegan recipe for cream so I opted for this almond, cashew cream recipe. It was a bit time consuming but the end result was worth the effort.  

To make the tiki masala, I started with two onions and asked Dan very nicely if he would chop them up (and of course he said yes). I then chopped 16 ounces of tempeh into 1-inch cubes. To a medium pan I added 1 Tbsp. of oil, the onions and tempeh and sautéed until the onions were translucent.

To the onion/tempeh mixture add 2 tsp. paprika, ½ tsp. cumin, ½ tsp. red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. minced garlic, and 1 tsp. garam masala and mix it into the dish. While the mixture is cooking add about 1 ½ cups of the tomatoes (ours were from the big batch we made last fall and still have in the freezer), ½ cup of the cashew/almond cream and stir until combined.

Just for fun I threw in a handful of fresh spinach and some roasted sweet potatoes and to finish it off, because I didn't think it was spicy enough, I put in some siracha sauce to give it a little zing - it did the trick!

We served the masala over brown rice – twas quite good and we had leftovers for dinner on Wednesday night – score!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day!