Tempeh LaLa

[garote]

This is a copycat recipe for making the dish "Tempah LaLa" from the Asian Rose, a restaurant that used to be in Santa Cruz, California. Dang they made some delicious stuff there...

• 1/2 cup of canola oil for some high-heat frying
• 32oz of tempeh (usually available as two 16oz packages)
• 1 big honkin' shallot, halved and sliced into thin half moons
• 4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp Trader Joe's chili pepper sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste, dissolved in 1 cup water (you can use tamarind pulp, but the prep is slightly different)
• 3 quarter-inch rounds galangal root, bruised OR 1.5 tbsp chopped ginger (or 5 of those little frozen ginger cubes if you have them)
• 3 (four-inch) pieces of lemongrass stalk and bulb, bruised
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• Hot cooked rice (for serving)

Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Slice the tempeh into small pieces, about 1.5-inch long, 3/4-inch wide, 1/3-inch tall. Place the tempeh on a baking sheet (or a thin grill if you have one) and leave in the oven for 30 minutes to dry out a bit. This will improve the crunchy texture.

While the tempeh hangs out in the oven, start preparing the rice.

In a 10-inch skillet (I used a cast iron one), heat the canola oil to about 300 degrees. With a slotted spoon or a pair of tongs, place the tempeh in the oil and fry each side about 1 minute, until golden brown. Remove the tempeh to a paper towel-lined plate.

Using the same oil and skillet, fry the shallots until brown - about 7 minutes.

Throw in the garlic slices, for about a minute. Garlic can burn easily so watch the time.

Scoop out the garlic and shallots and set them aside.

Turn off the heat and let the pan cool down a bit. Pour out the excess oil until you have about 3 tablespoons.

Over low heat, add the chili paste, tamarind paste dissolved in water, galangal, lemongrass, and brown sugar to the skillet. Raise heat to medium-high, and reduce the sauce until it's about 1/2 the volume you started with, and has taken on a slightly syrupy consistency. This will take at least ten minutes, probably longer -- as much as 25 minutes.

Pick out the lemongrass stalks and galangal pieces, then stir in the tempeh, onions, and garlic, mixing to coat evenly. Spoon heaps of it out over the rice you made earlier.

Tamarind paste versus tamarind pulp:

Tamarind pulp is the less processed version of the fruit. It usually takes the form of a chunky gel, often with little pieces of seeds or peel floating around in it. Tamarind paste is what you get if you take the pulp and immerse it in boiling water and then press it hard through a strainer. It mixes in more evenly.

You can use tamarind pulp in this recipe. When you mix it with water, use boiling water, then stir it thoroughly and pick out whatever hard un-savory bits you encounter. You could press it through a strainer, but unless the tamarind pulp is especially crude, that step does not appear to be mandatory.