The 30-Minute Vegan's Taste of the East: 150 Asian-Inspired Recipes--from Soba Noodles to Summer Rolls (11 page)

MANGO GINGER SAUCE

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Slice the tempeh into twelve ½-inch slices. Place the remaining marinade ingredients in a small casserole dish and whisk well. Add the tempeh and flip over once or twice. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

2. While the tempeh is cooking, prepare the mango ginger sauce by placing all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blending until smooth. Adjust the quantity of red pepper flakes to your desired spiciness. Pour into a small bowl and set aside.

3. Prepare the fixings and place them on a platter. When the tempeh is done cooking, place it alongside the fixings or on a serving plate of its own. Have fun as everyone takes a lettuce leaf, tops it with some tempeh and fillings, rolls it up, and dips it into the sauce.

THAI BASIL EGGPLANT

Though abundant in flavor, this dish is light enough to accompany heavier dishes such as Pad Thai (page 66), or simply served over rice or quinoa. It also makes an innovative filling for a wrap, hot or cold. Use regular basil if the Thai variety is not available to you.

1. Sauté the oil, garlic, and chile pepper over medium heat for 1 minute or until the garlic starts to brown, stirring frequently.

2. Add the eggplant and water, cover and simmer for 8 minutes or until the eggplant is very soft. Add the agave and Bragg’s and stir. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes until the eggplant is that perfect edible consistency. Add the basil, stir well, and remove from the heat.

SPICY SESAME PEANUT NOODLES

This dish makes a great appetizer or side dish but can also come through as an entrée simply by adding some steamed vegetables such as broccoli, bok choy, carrots, or kale. If you aren’t familiar with peanut sauce, this dish makes a great intro course. Serve before Loving Jungle Princess (page 72) with Spicy Asparagus (page 65).

1. Prepare the noodles according to the package’s instructions. Once strained, toss with the oil and set aside.

2. Blend or whisk together the remaining ingredients except the carrot, cilantro, and green onion to make your peanut sauce. When you are ready to serve, toss the peanut sauce with the noodles, carrot, cilantro, and green onion. If the dish sits around (for even a short period of time) you will need to add a tablespoon or two of water to stir it up again.

SPICY ASPARAGUS

This is the sort of fun-loving creation you can whip up once your kitchen is stocked with wonderfully authentic Thai ingredients like kaffir lime leaf. Try serving it along with Thai Coconut Vegetable Soup (page 52) and Pad Siew (page 75).

1. In a sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the oil, garlic, ginger, green onion, chile, and kaffir lime leaves for 2 minutes.

2. Add the asparagus and the red bell pepper, if using, and sauté for 2 more minutes. Add the water and continue to cook for 5 more minutes or until the asparagus is soft, but still bright green, and most of the water is evaporated.

3. Add the soy sauce and basil, stir, and remove from the heat.

PAD THAI

Pad Thai is the quintessential Thai dish, and yet no two Pad Thais are alike. It’s another one of those dishes where each region has developed its own style. Many variations use egg; ours uses tofu. If you have the time to make the Fish-Free Sauce (page 85) and the Sriracha (page 86), you will experience the full flavors of the dish. Serve with Cucumber Salad (page 54) or Thai Summer Rolls (page 59).

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Strain into a colander and set aside.

2. Place the soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil on a small baking sheet. Slice the tofu into ½-inch cutlets. Slice each cutlet into 2 inch by ½-inch strips and place on the baking sheet. Flip the tofu to ensure even coating. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

3. Prepare the Pad Thai Sauce by combining all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisking well.

4. Place 2 tablespoons of the sesame oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Lower the heat to low. Add the cooked noodles and Pad Thai Sauce and cook for 3 minutes, gently stirring well. Add the tofu and gently stir well.

5. Garnish each serving with green onion, cilantro, sprouts, peanuts, and lime wedges.

GREEN CURRY

Green curry has to be one of Thailand’s greatest contributions to the culinary experience. Served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this dish is smooth, comforting, and ohso-pleasing. Prepare the veggies for this dish while you are waiting for the curry paste ingredients to roast. Serve with Green Papaya Salad (page 53) or Thai Summer Rolls (page 59) and finish the meal off with some Sticky Rice and Mango Slice (page 80).

1. Place the chiles in a sauté pan with the coriander seeds, lemongrass, galangal, and green bell pepper. Roast over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until everything looks a little browned, stirring occasionally.

2. Transfer to a blender, add the kaffir lime leaves, basil, and salt, and blend until a thick paste forms, for 20 to 30 seconds. You may need to add a bit of the coconut milk to the blender to get the ingredients moving and well blended. Start with ¼ cup and work your way up as needed.

3. In a large sauté pan or pot over medium heat, add the sesame oil and allow it to heat for 30 seconds. Add the curry paste and sauté over medium heat until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and cook over medium-low heat, bringing the mixture to a low boil. Add the vegetables, starting with the hardest veggies that will take the longest to cook.

4. When all of the veggies are just soft, add the soy sauce and agave nectar and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes, add the minced basil, and remove from the heat. Serve immediately.

Note: Many recipes in this chapter call for chile peppers. The quantity of chiles that you use will entirely depend upon the particular chile’s level of spiciness. This will vary greatly from pepper to pepper and largely depend on the season as well as many other factors. The seeds inside the peppers are particularly hot and should always be removed unless you are looking for a fire-hot dish. If you aren’t sure how hot your pepper is, slice off a tiny strip at the end with no seeds on it and taste it. If jalapeño is the only green pepper you can buy, for example, you may only want to use one rather than the five to ten called for in the Green Curry recipe.

RED CURRY

This beloved sister of green curry takes a bit less time to make because the curry paste ingredients are not roasted. What is the most fun here is that you can really start to get a sense of how the different chiles taste. Red curry is generally hotter than green curry, and the flavors are a little brighter. When we sit down at a Thai restaurant, our question is always the same: Red curry, or green? What are you in the mood for? As most things do, this dish goes great with Green Papaya Salad (page 53), Cucumber Salad (page 54), or Tempeh Lettuce Wraps (page 61).