Tempeh Jambalaya

I get very excited when I go grocery shopping especially if its specialty store (My husband says I go into a trance when I start shopping.. hehehe). A month ago, we shopped at Whole Foods store and I was really awed by the array of organic products (including fresh veggies, fruits, packaged & frozen food) that they carry. I have to say prices are not cheap and I wouldn’t probably go there every week, but may be once a month for some special products (that are not available in regular grocery stores).
I ended up buying a lot of stuff which also included a package of tempeh*. After looking for recipes online and in my cookbooks, I came up with this Jambalaya** recipe.

Uncooked Tempeh(Photos Courtesy: wikipedia.org)

*Tempeh is a fermented whole soybean product. Tempeh’s fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher protein, dietary fiber and vitamins content compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor.

**Jambalaya is a Louisiana Cajun or Creole dish. It is traditionally a one pot dish made with meats, vegetables and rice.

Ingredients:
Tempeh – 8 oz. package
Celery – 2 stalks, chopped
Carrots – 2 medium, chopped
Peppers (any color, I used red, yellow and orange) – 1 cup chopped
Zucchini – 1 medium, chopped
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Garlic – 3 cloves
Chopped tomatoes – 16 oz. can
Vegetable Broth (low-sodium) – 2 ½ cups (or 1 vegetable bouillon cube)
Long grain rice – 1 cup
Salt and Pepper – to taste

Seasoning blend:
Cayenne pepper – 1 tsp
Paprika – 1 tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Dried thyme – ½ tsp
Dried Oregano – ½ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients for the seasoning blend in a small bowl and keep aside. Make sure that all the veggies are chopped approximately the same size, so they cook uniformly.
• Cut tempeh into 1” pieces and fry them in 1 tsp of olive oil till lightly browned on all sides. Remove and keep aside.
• Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy bottom pan***, add onions, garlic, celery, carrots, peppers and sauté for about 5 minutes or until they start to get slightly tender.
• Add zucchini and sauté for another 5 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, rice, sautéed tempeh, seasoning, vegetable broth (or water) and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer covered till rice is cooked, about 10-15 minutes.
• Remove from heat, leave covered for another 10 minutes, fluff with fork, garnish with green onions and serve with a dollop of sour cream.
  

*** I used Pressure Cooker and it about me 20 minutes to cook, excluding, of course, prepping time.

This is my entry for this week's Sweet Nicks ARF 5-A-Day Tuesday.