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Tempeh Cabbage Curry

I made a variant of curry cabbage once a week for meal prep nowadays. This is my version of curry cabbage with tempeh, which is fermented soybean in a cake form. Tempeh is a staple in Malay cuisine in Singapore (& South East Asia). At home, we love the rich, deep, earthy, nutty flavour of tempeh so I started cooking with it often.

Tempeh is really filling, so whenever we are eating a meatless home-cooked dinner, we often serve this as the only dish with cooked rice. Any leftovers will then become a side dish the next 2 days. The density of the tempeh pieces absorbed the curry gravy well. For meal prep, this curry keeps well for up to 3 days in the fridge. Keep the curry in a non-staining & non-reactive food container (such as one made of glass). Reheat on the stove until bubbling hot before serving.

This is tempeh. I always buy mine at Sheng Siong as it is inexpensive and authetic (wrapped in banana leaf). You can use both the raw version (white) or the fried ones for this curry. Some people say that the taste is improved with using fried ones. However, I find no difference in the tempeh in my curry whether I use raw or fried tempeh. I only use fried ones when I have leftovers from making a big batch for my salad toppings. Look out for the next recipe on how to deep fry tempeh easily without splatters.

Tempeh & Cabbage Curry Recipe

This is a meatless recipe. If you eat meat, you can add dried shrimps and fish sauce for flavouring the curry – reference this recipe for the non-vegetarian version.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

250g tempeh cut to uniform bite-sized sections, use raw or deep fried
30-35g vegetable curry powder
3 sprigs curry leaf optional
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 litre water
500g round cabbage (高丽菜) cored, leaves coarsely cut to smaller, uniform pieces
8 french beans (or 4 long beans) ends trimmed; cut to short sections
50g “tau pok” (beancurd puffs) cut to smaller pieces
300 ml coconut milk
2 finger-length red chilli sliced diagonally into small sections

(A) Spices

5 dried chilli soaked to soften, drained & snipped to smaller sections
3 garlic cloves peeled
7 shallots peeled
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

(B) Seasonings

1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp Maggi seasoning sauce may substitute with an extra pinch of salt
2 tbsp mushroom seasoning powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne pepper for extra heat; only if needed

Directions:

Blend spices. Place spices (A) in a food chopper or food processor. Blend until smooth. Alternatively, pound them using a mortar & pestle.
Fry spices. Place blended spices, curry powder and curry leaf sprigs in a large wokpan with 1 tbsp oil. Fry briefly until fragrant.
Add vegetables & simmer. Add water and bring to a boil. Add cabbage and simmer briefly until they start to wilt (and reduce in volume). Then add tempeh, french or long beans, bean curd puffs & red chilli. Cover the wok and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cabbage reached desired softness. Add more water during simmering (only if needed). Season the curry to taste with (B). Lower heat and add coconut milk, stirring to warm through the curry before serving.