Thanksgiving Dinner - Tempeh Onion Curry & Chocolate Cake

I'm deviating slightly from my original Vegan MoFo plans of posting a dessert recipe or baked good every day for the month of October.  On Monday, it is Canadian Thanksgiving and since both Paul and I have to work on the holiday and aren't able to make dinner together, we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  I decided that I would write about our delicious Thanksgiving meal that we just shared!  Originally, we were thinking of going with some roasted vegetables (a little more traditional) but instead decided to try a new dish that I'd been eyeing for a while, Tempeh Do Pyaaza.

I changed up this recipe a little bit from the original, so I will post it below.  This was really fun because Paul and I went out to Whole Foods this afternoon in search of certain spices and ingredients for the meal that we didn't have on hand.  There were some ingredients in the original that we just couldn't find (anardana seeds), and some that we just don't really like (fresh mint in the curry) and some that Paul doesn't care for (fresh cilantro).  I also added some garlic and garam masala to the mix.

Tempeh Do Pyaaza, as originally posted on One Green Planet, is an Indian curry that literally means "double onion" (Do Pyaaza).  The whole "double onion" part of the recipe originally caught my attention - mmmm...onion!  And...double onion, even better!  This is definitely not your traditional Thanksgiving meal by any means, but it was hearty and warm for the holiday, and quite healthy!  We served the tempeh over brown rice.

This was also my first time cooking with fenugreek!  Yay for discovering new spices and ingredients! I was so surprised that the fenugreek had such a sweet smell to it, almost like maple syrup.  I read online that toasting the seeds lightly tends to bring out the aroma, and it was definitely a good idea. 

You'll need:

Olive oil (for frying)

2 hot chili peppers, chopped
2 large sweet yellow onions, cut into strips
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced into rounds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds, lightly toasted (toast these on their own in a pan lightly)
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp Earth Balance
1 package tempeh cut into cubes
1 cup water

1.  Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan.  Saute one of the onions, one of the hot peppers, and the red bell pepper for 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
2.  Grind the Fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and the cumin seeds.  Saute the other onion, garlic, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and ginger in the same pan with more oil as needed, until the onions are golden.
3.  Remove from heat, and place all items from the pan in a blender with the lemon juice.  Blend the onion mixture to make a thick puree.
4.  In the pan, combine the Earth Balance, agave, salt and onion puree.  Add the tempeh and cook for 10 minutes, until the puree thickens and the tempeh cooks a bit.
5.  Add 1 cup of water, and cook for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is not too watery and has thickened to a desired consistency.

Serve the onion tempeh over rice, and top with the fried onion/red bell pepper mixture! 

I also enjoyed some dessert tonight and took the night off from baking:

It is a slice of chocolate cake from Sweets From The Earth!  Mmmmm....delicious and chocolatey and Vegan!  Keeping with my blog's dessert theme for VeganMoFo, I did enjoy a lovely slice of cake today after all!