Tofu & Marinated Tempeh BBQ Shish + Salad #

Yes, yes, it’s summer. Yes, I generally hate it. Alice and I bought a barbecue though, so that’s changed how I think about cooking over the last… two days.

I have to say, this was freaking delicious.

Ingredients (for the shish) #

• ~1 slab of tempeh, cubed
• ~1/2 pack of sesame tofu that you can buy at the supermarket. The other 1/2 was used yesterday.
• ~Raw peanuts, crushed with mortar and pestle (a couple of good handfuls)
• ~4 tbsp pure peanut butter (for Australians, Coles now sell this in 1kg tubs - no salt, sugar, or oil. Just ground up peanuts. Lots of health food shops sell it too)
• ~Good drizzle of Kecap Manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce)
• ~1 tsp of ground turmeric
• ~2 tsp of Za`atar (middle eastern spice mix)
• ~1 clove of garlic, crushed
• ~2 red birds-eye chilis finely chopped

Method (for the shish) #

1. Ignore the tofu.
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, give it a good old stir, taste and adjust accordingly, then put the cubed tempeh in it, give it all a good stir to coat.
3. Cover and put in the fridge for at least three hours.
4. Remove tempeh (and tofu) from fridge.
5. Obtain skewers
6. Wet said skewers under a tap.
7. Alternate threading tofu-tempeh-tofu-tempeh-tofu, etc, until desired amount of soy goodness is on each skewer.
8. BBQ on high for a few minutes to crisp, then on low to cook. Turn constantly. If your BBQ has a hood, you can use that to cook it through more quickly on low.

Ingredients (for salad dressing) #

• ~1.5 tsp of pomegranate molasses
• ~2-3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• ~1/2 a lime worth of lime juice

Method (for the salad) #

Whisk these together to form a tangy but sweet vinegar dressing. Drizzle on salad with a decent quantity of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Salad suggestion #

• Sliced pear
• Finely chopped coriander
• Roquette
• Baby spinach
• Cherry tomatoes
• Baby yellow roma tomatoes
• White onion
• 1-2 birds-eye chilis chopped
• Chopped avocado