This delicious peanut butter tempeh curry is a semi dry curry and is full of flavor. A tasty plant based curry with tempeh and sweet potatoes, with every bite covered in a tasty peanut based sauce.
If you haven’t tried tempeh then I highly recommend you give it a whirl. It is made from soy beans pressed into a cake. It’s a great source of plant based protein and provides a great texture and bite to plant based dishes.
I often use nut butters or tahini in curry recipes. They help to create a lovely rich creamy flavor. You can also use coconut milk as is used in lots of curry recipes, but nut butters are much lower in saturated fat.
Ingredients to Make this Dish
You need the following to make this dish. You can also swap in and out ingredients according to your own tastes and to mix things up a bit
Sweet potatoes
Tempeh
Peanut butter
Cumin
Coriander
Curry powder
Cayenne pepper
Ginger
Onion
Garlic
Tomato puree
Salt
Oil
Cilantro leaves
How to Make This Dish
To start you peel and chop the sweet potato into cubes and cut the tempeh into cubes. You then place in a bowl and add some oil to coat. Toss the tempeh and sweet potatoes to coat with the oil. Bake in the oven on some baking paper on 390 degrees for 20 minutes, turning over the sweet potatoes and tempeh half way through for even cooking.
For more convenience you can also simply add the sweet potatoes and tempeh to the pot and simmer until cooked, skipping the baking process, but it does help to create a more flavorsome dish.
When the sweet potato and tempeh are cooking you can get the rest of the dish going.
Peel and chop the onion and garlic and add some oil to a pot. Add the onion and cook until it starts to brown. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute. Then add the ginger, tomato puree and dried spices. Stir in with the onions.
Add a pint of boiling water along with the peanut butter and the salt.
Sometimes peanut butter can be quite thick and not spread easily. If this is the case, keep some of the boiling water aside and add to a cup or jug along with the peanut butter. Stir until the peanut butter and water form a smooth paste. Then add to the pot.
Cook on a gentle simmer for anther few minutes to allow the flavors to mix and the sauce to thicken. This is a relatively dry curry with the sweet potatoes and tempeh nicely coated with the delicious sauce.
Serve with some cooked rice. Some chopped fresh cilantro to garnish also really finishes this dish wonderfully.
Variations
If you can have some fresh chili, this is even better in my opinion than dried cayenne pepper
You can also use sweet potatoes instead of potatoes
Almond butter also works well instead of peanut butter
Peanut Butter Tempeh Curry
A delicious curry made with tempeh and sweet potatoes in a spicy peanut butter sauce.
Peel the sweet potatoes and chop into cubes. Cut the tempeh into cubes. Add the sweet potato and tempeh cubes into a bowl along with a one and a half tablespoons of oil. Toss to coat evenly.
Pre-heat an oven to 390 degrees and place some baking paper on a tray. Add the sweet potatoes and tempeh and cook for 20 minutes. Turn over half way through for even cooking.
Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Add some oil to a pot and cook the onions for around 4 minutes until they start to brown and then add the garlic. Cook for another minute.
Add the dried spices along with the ginger and tomato puree. Cook for another 30 seconds then add a pint of hot water along with the peanut butter. If the peanut butter is quite firm you can reserve some of the water and add the peanut butter to a jug along with the water. Then stir the water and peanut butter to reach a smooth consistency before adding to the pot.
Bring the pot to a boil stirring everything well and then reduce to a very gentle simmer.
Once cooked, add the sweet potatoes and tempeh. Stir the pot so everything is coated. Simmer for another five minutes or so to allow the flavors to absorb and the sauce to thicken.
Serve with some cooked rice and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.
