{Ramadan Special} – Vegan Tempeh and Jackfruit Curry by Arfi of HomemadeS
I know Arfi of Homemades from the early days of my food blogging….She is the one who guided me on food photography…I still follow those thumb rules from you dear Arfi….Though she was busy with a trip to her homeland…she took out time and sent across this wonderful entry. Lot of people ask me…Are meat recipes are mostly served and cooked during Ramadan…?? So changing this trend…my dear buddy Arfi has come up with a new concept of Veganising Ramadan and she shares her yummy Vegan Tempeh and Jackfruit Curry. Do scroll down to read about Arfi’s Ramadan from far land of New Zealand….Thank you Arfi for taking out time crafting this wonderful post for all of us…..
Veganising My Ramadan
I must admit now, that I have become a vegan. It’s not a religion to me, but more a healthy approach to maintain my well-being. Since I have found out that I cannot digest meat quite well anymore, I decided that I have to come back being a vegetarian. Yes, I used to be a vegetarian for years before I became pregnant with my kids, one at a time. I had to consume red meat to meet up with my iron level. Every time I was pregnant, my iron level dropped to the lowest level which was worrying my midwife. She thought I must be losing a lot of blood, or something. She started to persuade me to take action on it, so I would be permitted and could give homebirths safely. So yeah, I had to make do with red meat, green leafy vegetables and iron supplements.
Basically, I am not quite fond of red meat. Chicken and fish are okay, but they don’t really get me excited. If they are cooked in a certain dish that I like, I perhaps will try a bite or two, just to be polite, but other than that, no repeat dishes for me.
I am quite happy with potato salad or roasted root vegetables with heaps of colourful salad on our usual Sunday roast dinner. Or a mug of hot soy chocolate or lemon almond pudding for desserts. Fresh fruits or green smoothies are enough to jazz me up my post-workouts meals.
At times, I would miss eating my favorite Mercer’s blue cheese or camembert, but it’s no big deal. I still can taste them a bite or two. Like I said, veganism is not a religion to me, but a way to maintain my health.
Okay. Lubna asked me if I would like to write another guest post for her annual Ramadan’s event Joy from Fasting to Feasting which this year is going to celebrate its 7th birthday.
I cook Vegan Tempeh and Jackfruit Curry for this very occasion, because I love tempeh albeit its rarity in the country I live in. I often make my own bars of tempeh when I find dried soy beans at our local Asian groceries shop.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Finding dried soy beans in Pukekohe can be so painful sometimes since not many shops are having them supplied regularly. If I really want to, I can online order bags of them from Asian groceries shops in the city, but it will cost me more. So, what I do is just let myself long for it for a while, and then if I find dried soy beans at the local shop, I will make a large amount of tempeh bars and freeze them for later use.
Why tempeh?
Well, why not? There are benefits I can gain from a bar of tempeh. Reading some references about tempeh, I become accustomed to the thoughts that tempeh can help lowering of our LDL cholesterol, and its soyasaponins is responsible to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. The genistein (in isoflavones) in tempeh is believed to help stop cancer cell growth. Reading around makes me wondering if tempeh is also the very item that pushes endurance and necessitates long life those aged people in Central Java who are still active and current, and are productive by selling foods or vegetables at the market.
It’s common in Indonesia to use a lot of ingredients in one bowl of stew or soup. There are a lot of spices and herbs to use as for either giving accentuate or deepen the flavour.
This Vegan Tempeh and Jackfruit Curry is rather mild since I am using neither dried shrimps nor shrimp paste to intensify the umami. I use Nutritional Yeast to emphasize the seasoning, to produce that savour taste, the delicate taste of cheese. It works and it’s just delicious.
I am cooking this only for me that I can eat for iftar or during sahoor since I usually am not hungry during iftar. So, you might want to double the recipe or make adjustments to your liking. I use canned young jackfruits since I could not find the frozen bags at our local Asian groceries shop. Fresh ones are always the best, but New Zealand cannot grow its own jackfruits. I am considered pretty lucky if I can find the frozen ones, but also not feeling less gratitude when I only can use the canned one. Either or, as long as it’s jackfruits, I’m quite happy, despite the health issue on canned food. I am not doing it everyday anyway.
So here is what I do.
Vegan Tempeh and Jackfruit Curry
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 bar of Tempeh, thickly sliced
- 565 grams young Jackfruits in brine, drained and washed
- 5 large Red chilies
- 2 red bird Chilies
- 5 large Shallots (I have never found small ones in NZ), peeled, chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic, peeled, chopped
- 1 tbs Nutritional Yeast
- 1 ¼ cm Turmeric root, toasted over fire until scorched, peeled
- 2 cm Ginger, bruised
- 2 cm Galangal, bruised
- 1 fresh Lemongrass, white part only, bruised
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves, shredded
- ½ tsp Tamarind paste
- ¼ tsp ground white Pepper
- 4 Candle nuts, toasted until crisp
- 250 ml Kara coconut cream
- 250 ml Water
- salt and Sugar to season
- Oil to cook
PREPARATION:
- Grind all chilies, shallots, garlic, turmeric, and candle nuts to a smooth paste. Heat a medium heavy-bottom saucepan until hot, pour in the oil.
- Cook the paste, add in the bruised ginger, galangal and lemongrass. Keep stirring until the paste becomes fragrant.
- Add in shredded kaffir lime leaves. Pour in the water and coconut cream. Add in jackfuits.
- Cook until the curry is bubbly. Add in tempeh slices, followed by nutritional yeast.
- Correct the seasoning by adding salt and sugar.
- Cook until the curry is thickening and the taste is right to your liking.
- Serve with warm steamed jasmine rice or traditional Indonesian rice cakes. Makes 2 portions.
Last year from Arfi – Gluten-Free Coffee and Walnut Chiffon Cake.
You can find Arfi @ Blog.
NOTE: You can find updated list of entries till date @ Joy From Fasting To Feasting – VII.
Hasna Hamza Layin says
the first glance of the picture brought a gallon of water into the mouth… lovely pictures and i thot it was fish at first.. nd yeah being vegan is really gud.. v muslims kno a little about veg recipes… these kinda posts r always welcome.. thumbs up to both!
Linsy Patel says
I love tempeh, love this new dish.