tonight i cooked a dinner with so many great words and phrases attached to it…

planning dinner started this morning as i pottered round the house, trying to work out how to cook the tempeh we got in our vege box last week (we affectionally call it the ‘anarchist box’ because the co-op is run out of an anarchist bookshop down the road). i found an interesting recipe in the cookbook i bought when i was in victoria, canada way back in january: orzo with tempeh and eggplant. all i needed to buy was an eggplant (we even had the orzo, incredibly)

250g packet tempeh

6 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2inch piece ginger, peeled

small eggplant, peeled and cubed

1/4 cup tamari

1 1/2 cups orzo (it’s called risoni here)

3 tablespoons miso

boil 4 cups of water in a saucepan, add the temped (i cut it in half to fit better) and simmer for 20 minutes (i pressure cooked it for 10). drain the water, cube the tempeh and set it aside

saute the onion and salt in 1/4 cup oil (well, i really put what looked like enough in) until soft, then add the garlic and grate the ginger over top, saute for another few minutes. add the cubed tempeh, eggplant, most of the tamari and cook until the eggplant softens, about 10 minutes.

and, at the same time (multiskilling!) put 2 tablespoons oil and a big tablespoon of tamari in a pan and warm it up. add the orzo and stir it till it starts to stick (a couple of minutes). add 3 cups of boiling water and the miso, stir through and then simmer until tender and creamy, about 15 minutes. add more water if needed. then stir the eggplant/tempeh mixture through and it’s ready to serve.

we had it it with cabbage a la marian, steamed with caraway seeds and rice vinegar on top. crunchy goodness.

the orzo/eggplant/tempeh concoction was pretty amazing. highly recommended!