Tempeh balls with sweet and sour tamarind glaze
For best results, use a homemade tamarind concentrate. This recipe is untested with store bought tamarind liquids (the quality isn't great so I stopped buying it). You can serve these as an appetiser, a light snack, or as a main with rice.
Servings: 2 servings, with rice
Ingredients
Tempeh balls
- 175 grams tempeh
- 50 grams finely minced onion
- ½ packed tablespoon grated ginger 8 grams
- ½ packed tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- Scant ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 40 grams rice flour
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Stir fry
- 3 tablespoons tamarind concentrate
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- Scant ½ teaspoon cornflour
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 60 grams onion, cut into wedges red or yellow
- 2 fat cloves garlic thinly sliced
- ½ inch piece of ginger peeled and julienned
- Chopped spring onion for topping
- Coriander for topping
Instructions
Make the tempeh balls
- Get your steamer heating up to a rolling boil.
- Crumble the tempeh by hand to as fine a texture as you can into a large bowl. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, salt, coriander, and rice flour. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined.
- Form heaped ½ tablespoon balls and roll them with your hands into 1 inch-ish spheres. You’ll end up with somewhere around 25 by the time you’re finished. Line your steamer with a liner or greaseproof paper and arrange the balls inside, with some space between them. Steam for 20 minutes.
- The balls will be very sticky to the eye and touch right when they're finishing steaming, so leave them to cool for a further 20 minutes before the next step.
- Heat a well seasoned wok (or sturdy frying pan with nonstick qualities that can take high heat) to medium high for a couple minutes. Once it’s hot, add the oil. When it begins to smoke, add the balls and stir fry for a few minutes until they have some browned spots on most sides. Remove them to a plate.
Prepare the stir fry
- Combine the tamarind, sugar, soy sauce, and cornflour in a small bowl. Stir to dissolved the cornflour.
- Place the wok back on the hob and bring the heat to high. Add the oil. When it begins to smoke, add the onion. Stir fry for a minute until the onion softens and develops some browned marks. Add the tempeh balls, garlic, and ginger, continuing to stir fry for about 30 more seconds.
- Turn the heat down to medium, give the sauce a quick stir, and pour it into the wok. Toss everything with a wok spoon to coat evenly in sauce. Cook for around 30 seconds, until the tempeh balls are coated in a slick glaze. Turn off the heat.
- Dish up and top with spring onion and/or coriander.