Easy Recipe: Vegan Black Pepper Tempe & Tofu

Hello! This recipe is not twisted from any recipes. It is based on my original Black Pepper Beef recipe (yes yes…next time, meat eaters!), but I twisted it for my BF that decided to join the plant-based lifestyle. So instead of using beef, I use Tempe and tofu (a rich source of protein from soy). I also took out the oyster sauce but use everything else.

MAYBE, not a real vegan dish too (I’m being undecided) since I was using 8gr of brown sugar. But…some vegans still consider the brown sugar vegan. So…forgive me. I’m not an expert at this.

So yeah! I made it for my BF, and he called it “the last supper”. Why? I got a new job! Whoohoo!! But, my office will be about 20Km from home and in Jakarta, it is a pain in the arse to commute that far on weekdays. So I decided to rent a room nearby the office. But he said for the last supper he wants this menu as if I work in another country. Hahahaha… silly him.

Alright! Now let’s go to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 250 gr tempe
• 250 gr firm tofu
• Coconut oil to fry
• 1/2 big red bell pepper
• 1/2 big green bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 1 garlic clove
• A dash of Sea salt
• 1 cup of water

  Marinating Sauce:

• 3 tbsp black sweet soy sauce
• 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 8 gr (1 stick) brown sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine/ Rice wine (substitute: Pale Dry Sherry)
• 3 tsp crushed black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fry the tempe and tofu half done. As long as you can already see the outer part is firmed, considered it’s done.
2. While you’re frying the tempe and tofu, mix all of your marinating sauce ingredients in a big bowl
3. Ground onion and garlic with a little bit of coconut oil using a food processor or mini chopper until it forms like paste.
4. Prepare the bell pepper as you like.
5. Transfer the fried tempe and tofu to the marinating sauce.
6. In the pan, saute the ground onion and garlic until you can smell a piece of heaven in your kitchen, then put the marinated tempe and tofu along with the sauce and mixed them all. Stir it until you can see some of the sauce is caramelized, then pour the water.
7. The sauce is easily thickened by the ground onion and garlic so you don’t need to add flour/ corn starch to thicken it.
8. Then simmer the sauce to your preference, then 5 minutes before you’re done, add the bell peppers, mixed it, and cover with a lid and let them simmer further for 5 minutes.

THAT’S IT. It won’t take you more than 30 minutes to prepare this dish (including washing your dishes!).

He LOVED this dish, and even more today. Go on and try, then tell me how it goes!