{ Kim Haugh: Tempeh Scampi }

{ Kim Haugh }

The very first guest of Palatable Dish, Kim Haugh, is a graphic designer that can cook! Kim is a cheese fiend, a french-fry lover, and a vegetarian. She is also a very good friend of mine, but I can assure you that I'm not trying to sell my friend's cooking here, the food that she makes is delicious (as a matter of fact, I regret that I didn't take any of the left-over home!!!)

So, how about a little story about our dish today here, Tempeh Scampi, a common food in Kim's kitchen (besides cereals... ;)...)? It started out with Chicken Scampi, one of her favorite dishes that her mother used to make when she was younger. And one day, the not-so-fond-of-meat palette of hers gradually brought her into a vegetarian world, "I feel the most passionate about the environmental impact issues...", Kim said. From knowing her quite sometimes now, I'm actually starting to think that if there is a war between animals and humans Kim would totally ditch us human and take on the animal side (you'll be seeing her standing by the army of squirrels.) Well, long story short, Kim's love for her mom's chicken scampi with a not-so-much-for-meat attitude, a vegetarian version of scampi, the sauteed tempeh pieces infused with lemon juice, garlic and butter, has most, if not all, of the flavor that a chicken scampi that her mom used to made has to offer (minus the chicken of course).

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{ 2-3 servings }

ingredients

• 1 block of tempeh (8 oz.) - break into bite-size pieces
• 1-2 chopped tomatoes
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of pepper

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{ Tomatoes, garlic, lemon, green onion, parsley, and tempeh.}

{ Tempeh and tomatoes. }

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1. In a medium saucepan heat 1 1/2 tbsp of butter and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil over medium high until the butter melts. Add tempeh and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until it turns golden brown, set aside on a separate plate once it's done.

2. In the same saucepan add the rest of olive oil and butter and heat until the butter melts. Over medium heat, add chopped green onion, stir it for about 3-4 minutes, then add garlic, salt and pepper and stir it for about 30 seconds. Adjust the heat to medium high, add tempeh, tomatoes, lemon juice, and parsley and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until the sauce forms. Serve it over rice.///Top with some parmesan cheese and chopped parsley for some extra flavor.///

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Voila!

{ Kin Jay: Shitake Mushroom and Cellophane Noodle Soup }

When I used to live in Thailand, every year my family will celebrate Kin Jay Festival (Vegetarian Festival), technically, you'll become a vegetarian for a period of time (I believe it's sometimes in October.) Anyway, since I've been eating a lot of meat for the past few days, today, I'd like to make something simply vegetarian. This dish was first made available for my palette about 15 years ago by my sister. The actual ingredients that my sister used were dried shitake mushroom, cellophane noodle, water, and white soy sauce. But here's what you can also add on...

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***Note: traditionally, Kin Jay Festival food does not contain any ingredients that has a strong flavor/smell (not so sure what's the story behind it) such as green onion and garlic***

{ 1 serving }

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of vegetable broth
• 1-2 tbsp of white soy sauce (regular soy sauce would do)
• 2-3 whole dried shitake mushrooms
• 1 pack of cellophane noodle
• garnish (optional): green onion, cilantro, or seaweed...or all of the above...o_o.

Before you start cooking, soak dried shitake mushrooms in a bowl of water for about 2-3 hours (it will be easier to slice and better texture to eat.) Do the same thing with cellophane noodle.

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{ Dried Shitake Mushroom }

You can get dried shitake mushroom from any asian market, they are not that expensive. (The one that I got was about $9.99, bigger package, and that would last me for about a year. Or you could get a smaller package for like 4 dollar-ish...)

Once dried shitake mushrooms are soft enough, thin slice them.

In a saucepan, add water and vegetarian broth, bring to a boil then add sliced shitake mushroom. Cook for about 10 minutes.

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{ Cellophane Noodle }

Add pre-soaked cellophane noodle into the saucepan, add soy sauce (actually, the amount of soy sauce totally depends on you!!!) And cook the noodle for about 30 seconds.

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Voilà!

///I added some green onion and seaweed for some extra flavor...///