Vegan MoFo 3.2: Slow Cooked Tempeh, Roasted Red Pepper and Chanterelles over Brown Rice

Much to my surprise I actually ended up using tempeh in our dinner tonight as I mentioned in the earlier post. This was a bit of shock since I typically can’t plan our meals more than a few minutes ahead. Since the weather has turned cool here I wanted something for dinner that was comfort food. This dish was perfect for a cool evening. Here is what I made:

Slow Cooked Tempeh, Roasted Red Pepper and Chanterelles over Brown Rice
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 medium or 1 large yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced (will be approximately 2 cups)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 cups fresh or 28 ounces canned peeled diced tomatoes
4 roasted red peppers, cut into strips
12 ounces beer (or you can substitute white wine, veg stock or water)
2 tablespoon paprika
1 ½ teaspoon dill weed (dried)
1 teaspoon caraway seed
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 ounces tempeh, cut into small cubes (I used organic three grain with millet, brown rice and barley)
½ ounce dried chanterelle mushrooms, soaked in 3 cups of water and drained (soaking liquid reserved to add to braising liquid)
½ cup raw cashews
¼ cup dry oatmeal
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, or to taste
2 stalks fresh dill (about 2 tablespoons finely diced)
1 ½ cups brown basmati rice
3 cups water

Directions:

Combine the onions, garlic, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, beer, paprika, dill, caraway, dry mustard, black pepper, tempeh, chanterelles, and the strained soaking liquid from the chanterelles and simmer for at least 30 minutes though longer is fine.

While the veggies and tempeh are simmering cook the brown rice.

When you are almost ready to serve place the raw cashews in your blender with the dry oatmeal. Using a ladle remove at least 2 cups of liquid from the simmering pot and add that to the blender. Process the cashews and oats until smooth. I used a Vitamix for this and it processes the nuts and oats quickly. Pour the cashew and oat mixture into the simmering pot and stir to combine.

Now it is time to taste the mixture and see if you think it needs the red wine vinegar to bring a little spark to the flavor. I added a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. The vinegar does similar things that salt would do to a dish but without the deleterious health impact.

Nutritional Information (for 1/6th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories 387.44
Calories From Fat (21%) - 81.28

Total Fat - 9.71g
Saturated Fat - 1.86g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 27.75mg
Potassium - 824.61mg
Total Carbohydrates - 60.31g
Fiber - 6.03g
Sugar - 6.62g
Protein - 15.32g

Comments:

This dish screams comfort food to me. It tastes much richer than it actually is. The flavor is mild yet complex. The sauce is creamy without being fatty. I think this is the perfect cold weather dish. If you are worried about this tasting like beer it doesn’t. The beer gives the dish a very mild background flavor that my husband was unable to detect what it was. Speaking of beer since some portion of the alcohol evaporated during cooking the calorie count is overstated by that.

Signing out:

We need to get our rest tonight since Binky (aka Nicco) is going to the vet early tomorrow to have his dental work and Dan is flying to Norfolk for the day. Hopefully taking the dry cat food up tonight doesn’t result in an insurrection this evening. Our children tend to get very vocal when their food bowl is low so I can’t imagine what they will do with it missing. Wish up luck getting some rest this evening.

I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. Talk to you all tomorrow.