Tempeh and Veggie Curry

Curry!

Curry is a generic western noun to describe a variety of indian spices which create a golden, red, and green sauce of varying capsaicin intensities for a stew. The fundamental curry spices are Tumeric and black mustard seed. My favorite combination of curry ingredients are: cardamom, turmeric, fenugreek, cumin, chillies, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, mustard, garlic, fennel, and black pepper

To make this curry I purchased a Curry spice blend from the grocery store which included - tumeric, cumin, fenugreek, cloves, coriander, fennel, and pepper. I then made the rest of the sauce with grated ginger, chopped purple onion (1), chopped jalepeno peppers (2), clove of garlic diced, 2 limes juiced, celtic sea salt, fresh basil, coconut oil (3tbsp) - all of the spice ingredients are shown in the Wok to the left - I sautéed these ingredients until the onions were translucent.

The veggies I used for this curry were; baby red and yellow bell peppers sliced, head of broccoli chopped into florets, green beans, 1 large zucchini sliced, 1 head of purple kale - At the bottom of the veggie pic you will see a block of tempeh cut up. I added all of these materials to the sauce above then added a CAN (12 oz) of lite coconut milk - the reason I used LITE coconut milk is because I used coconut oil to saute the spices and then the amount of coconut and therefore saturated fat at the end of the meal is about the same as if I had used regular coconut milk - so you could use either but I like cooking my sauce before adding my veggies - It creates a flavor that is not watered down by the mass of vegetables. When you add the veggies they are ready to absorb the mature flavor.

I also put brown rice and lentils and 3 tbsp hemp seeds in the rice cooker with some hot sauce and chinese 5 spice and oregano - This is another complete protein to complete the dish.

We ate the curry on the sweet and sour salad and rice/lentils with Mango Chutney and Nutritional Yeast.

Shopping list for curry:

-Spices (either buy a pre-mixed spice jar or get Tumeric and Cumin and Pepper)

-Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Peppers

- Coconut oil and LITE coconut Milk or Coconut Milk

-Whatever veggies you want to cook

-Whatever meat/tempeh you want as protein

create sauce - cook veggies and meat/tempeh in sauce - serve

This meal brings up the topic of SOY:

Our culture has become super dependent on Soy, (more than any asian culture currently or historically) - from obvious edibles; tofu, soy milk, fake dairy and meat made of soy, soy sauce, etc. to functionalities such as ethanol. But we also feed soy to all of our conventional meat sources (which is another whole bag of worms creating cancer and obesity) and use it for numerous additives in all of our food (ie. Soy lecithin).

The problem is that soy is a perpetually unresolved controversy - mostly that's what a controversy is. Soy has become a negative edible because of the amount of processing it takes to produce all of the dietary alternatives and all the GMO soy used - Tofu, soy meat, soy cheese, soy milk - all of this is processed and pumped with chemicals to preserve it's state for a long period of time. Another problem with our soy consumption is the amount. Like with anything - MODERATION is key. But today Soy has infiltrated the market in every form so that you are eating soy in every meal, this concentration of soy extracts cause problems in estrogen levels, brain function, cancer cells, thyroid function and therefore fat storage. As you will see if you begin to open the soy box is that no-one can agree on whether soy is actually positively good or bad for you. There are equally reputable and respectable opinions on both sides of the fence. The best argued report on soy's pro/cons is that by Vegfamily and Sally Fallon/Mary Enig/Mike Fitzpatrick PhD. However, what everyone can agree on is that fermented soy in MODERATION is the best source of soy benefits and protein. Fermented soy includes Tempeh, meso, Natto, and Tamari (fermented soy sauce).

All I know (besides what I have read which scares away any desire I ever had to eat soy) is that my experience with unfermented soy has been bad for me and for my body fat % so I stay away from all unfermented soy products which is why I used Tempeh instead of Tofu in this Curry.

Other names for soy:
• Edamame
• Kinako
• Kouridofu
• Mono-diglyceride
• Natto
• Nimame
• Okara
• Soya, soja, soybean
• Soy protein (isolate/concentrate)
• Tempeh
• Textured soy flour (TSF)
• Textured soy protein (TSP)
• Textured vegetable protein (TVP)
• Tofu (soybean curds)
• Yuba