Tamarind Tempeh Curry and Thumbprint Cookies

I have been battling a terrible stomach flu while trying to get myself ready for the first week of school, which is both exciting and a little nerve wracking.

I wanted to share a recipe I made on Sunday night, which I was really pleased with. I admit to forgetting the chilli peppers, but, I was in the throws of my first ever 'preweek' cook off. I actually premade most of our meals for this first week back to work. I tackled a really great carrot soup, a ratatouille, a stir fry, and a whole pile of cookies that are for the kids....not for Kevin.

The curry I made on Sunday night was made specifically for the tamarind that I picked up after our amazing celebration dinner at my favourite vegan/live food haunt in Brussels. TAN, which is an upscale, vegan friendly restaurant, is actually the location for our wedding lunch, and since we were celebrating an anniversary, it really only seemed right to tuck in for a nice meal. I had a wonderful quinoa and avocado salad to start, and finished off with stuffed zucchini. The meal was so light and well prepared. The best part is while we were eating our meal, you could look out at the terrace to see all of the container gardening the restaurant does. Great place.

Okay, here is the curry recipe, give it a whirl, it was delish.

T & T Curry

Ingredients:
3 tsp Tamarind
1 eggplant
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic (marinade)
1 clove of garlic (for the stir fry)
Tempeh
Soy Sauce
Coconut Milk
in your own quanity: chili pepper

This really simple set of ingredients was made spectacular by the time I gave it to marinate. The flavour of the tamarind was a nice compliment to the texture of the tempeh. All you have to do is marinate the tempeh, which I cut into coins, in the tamarind, soy and garlic. Once you have let that sit for a while add a the diced eggplant to a cast iron pan and let it cook down, I then threw everything else in and added the coconut milk. I let this dish simmer for 40 minutes and then served it up!

I also re-worked a Veg Times cookie recipe, omitting the All Purpose and going whole hog with the Whole Wheat. These little thumb print cookies will be in the bellies of 23 children tomorrow morning (well, 22 - one can't get back from Iceland until Thursday). The recipe is from this month's publication, and came together really quickly, and turned out exuding the elements of both a perfect crunchy outside and a jammy centre.


I also wanted to extol the graces of letting food take its time to mix and mingle. I just polished off a bowl of the ratatouille I made on Sunday night, and the two nights in the fridge did wonders for this dish. I plan to keep up the practice of prepping all of my week's meals on Sunday. It is not only mega time saving for me after an afternoon of dragging meetings, but, it seems to have a nice effect on the food as well.

Tomorrow is the first official day back to school, and I just can't wait. I met some of the kids today (new ones to the school) and it was so invigorating to see their eager faces and be able to answer their curious questions. Can't wait to see all of the returning students tomorrow morning! Should be good fun.

OH!!! I also have some really great news....one of my students from when I was teaching at Sheridan College in Oakville, has been hired by DISNEY, as an animator. Congratulations Randeep...what a great opportunity. His work is fantastic, and if you dig art/animation, then I encourage you to check out his blog. Randeep is also an amazing person, I can't think of any one else who deserves this more.