Sweet and spicy Tempeh with stir fried broccoli and water chestnuts

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word ginger, is the soup my Thai mother made me when I had a cold as a very young child. It was the only thing I really remember that she made. This soup was the Thai equivalent to chicken soup for colds. This soup was rice, dried shrimp and ginger soup. I have fond memories of how soothing it was. I think ginger is a very good remedy for many things.

But... that is not what I made.

Since I don't eat animal products I chose tempeh as my protein and made a spicy stir fry with it.

This is my favorite and the most popular tempeh in Montreal. I am not saying this just because I used to make it several years ago. I used to be the one who weighed out the beans at 5am by myself in the factory, added it to a cauldron and cooked it for a couple of hours. I then took the several heavy bags out and put them in the spinner to dry before I put them in the tumbler with the spores. After I put them in a weighing machine to weigh into the bags to be tamped down then put in a room to incubate for around 3o hours until they were ready to "harvest".

Today I cubed then marinated the tempeh with around 2 cups vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, ginger, 1 diced chili, 1 tablespoon lemon juice 3 tablespoons agave nectar and 3 tablespoons soy sauce.

My aim was to go for a spicy gingery kind of stir fry reminding me of those late nights years ago eating in Chinatown. We used to work in a restaurant until 1 am or later. On the weekends we would sometimes go to Chinatown restaurants that opened until 4am. It was on the way home so we grabbed a bunch of vegan options and got high on MSG. We would order enough to take home so we could eat again when we got hungry once more.

When I was growing up they would always say that if you eat Chinese food you always get hungry again shortly afterward. They implied that it was because of the vegetables. I know now it was the MSG.

While the tempeh was marinating, I minced around 4 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of ginger, and 1 diced onion.

I fried them in a little oil then added the tempeh that was strained. The liquid was set aside.

I sprinkled cornstarch to cover then stirred. It was probably around 2 tablespoons. I added half of the liquid that was set aside. It was left to boil then I transferred it to a pot to simmer until the moisture was almost all gone and it was in a thick sauce.

Meanwhile I started the broccoli water chestnut stir fry. The stems were julienned along with carrots. I sauteed first 1 red onion, 4 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon minced ginger then added the broccoli and carrots. I added a teaspoon of Chinese five spice that I put together using equal parts of aniseed, cinnamon, fennel, peppercorn and cloves. I used a little less clove because I find it too strong for me.

I had a can of water chestnuts that I drained and chopped up then put in the pan to cook. I have never used water chestnuts before but I thought they were a perfect reminder of stir fries back in the late night Chinatown days.

After cooking this for a while in the wok, I added the rest of the broth and marinade mix. I added two tablespoons cornstarch and cooked it until the liquid was almost gone.

When it was almost cooked I added some broccoli that was slightly steamed already.

By now the tempeh was ready.

It was perfectly spicy for me. I haven't had my spice kick for a while. Sometimes I like to take a break so I can taste other things but just can't live without hot chilies in my life.

Of course if you are someone who can't take the heat, the flavors of the five spice are quite fun. This is a spice mix that I love but only once in a while. I don't know why. I loved it this time. It reminded me of food that I ate in spring on a visit to Kuala Lumpur. It was very vegan friendly there.

Tempeh is really good for absorbing flavors. It doesn't really require much marinating or none at all if cooking in something like broth or soy sauce. I like to marinate it for the best result.

This was my Chinatown experience done in my apartment since dining out days are not in the near future. I prefer to do it myself anyway.

Have a wonderful day or night everyone!