Spicy Thai Tempeh with Cashews, from Terry Walter’s “Clean Food”
Easy Vegan Food
I was talking to my mom last week about my favorite vegan cookbooks. I have two books by Terry Walters,”Clean Food” and “Clean Start”.
I adore them both. The photographs in “Clean Start” are beautiful, the ingredients are clean and my entire family has enjoyed every recipe that I’ve pulled from them. Additionally, both books are broken up by seasons.
I love that the books are broken up by seasons for two reasons. For one, it makes it easier to eat what is in season and that saves me money. Locally grown produce is fresher (bonus if it’s from my own yard) and is usually less expensive as it doesn’t have as much money invested in getting it here. Organic grapes that are flown up from Chile sure are yummy but they aren’t really an economical choice in January. Know what I mean? However, blueberries from the u-pick farm down the road are a steal for $1 a pound during the summer. Secondly, I like that the foods are seasonally appropriate. I spend enough time looking through cookbooks for dinner ideas so it’s nice when I don’t have to sift through butternut squash recipes when it’s 100 degrees outside and I’m looking for a vegan recipe for gazpacho.
Long story short, The Spicy Thai Tempeh with Cashews, from Terry Walters’ book “Clean Food”, was a hit even though I altered the recipe a bit. I doubled the Tempeh. I like to ensure that I have leftovers so that there are easy lunch options in the fridge the next day. Since the sauce to tempeh ratio was less, the tempeh wasn’t as spicy as it would have been had I made the recipe as is.
The ingredients are simple: Tempeh, olive oil, red onion, roasted red pepper, cashews, red chili paste, maple syrup, tamari, water and scallions. I keep tempeh, red peppers, chili paste, syrup, tamari and scallions in the fridge on a pretty regular basis. Olive oil and cashews are in the cabinet and the red onions hang out in the corner on the kitchen counter. I generally have all of these ingredients on hand, so for me this is considered a “cook from the pantry” meal. The recipe also comes together fairly quickly which is a must for weeknight meals in this house.
You can look for both “Clean Start” and “Clean Food” at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Powell’s Books.