Tempeh, Potato, and Spinach Curry

I bought tempeh about a month ago and, after several weeks of buying potatoes with the purpose of making this, I finally got off my butt and made it today. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about tempeh because the texture is all different and it honestly just tastes strange (there’s a weird bitter aftertaste…am I eating rotten tempeh?).

I kinda secretly hoped that this recipe would make me a tempeh-convert, since it’s supposed to be a healthy alternative to meat (other than the fact that it’s…NOT), but at the end of the day, I liked all the other ingredients in the recipe more than I did the tempeh. Maybe I should have called this “Potato, spinach, and try-at-your-own-risk tempeh curry.” In any case, I think I’ll give it one more chance  before I officially declare my apartment a tempeh-free zone!

Baked mushroom risotto

I saw this last week on thekitchn, and I finally got around to making it after seeing my mushrooms look more and more sad as they sat in the fridge.  I think risotto might be my new favorite dish to make since a) it’s so easy and b) you can mess things up (like forget to put in half your liquid and bake it for twice as long) and it still turns out tasty.

The original recipe has a caramelized onion topping…but since it takes about 30 minutes to do that…I decided against it. I’m sure it would be delicious though!

Recipe follows…

Lentils + spinach curry

So I made this a week ago…and now the problem is, I can’t remember exactly what changes I made to the original recipe. I guess you can say I was heavily inspired by the recipe from Closet Cooking. I didn’t add the cumin seeds since I didn’t have any, and I thought it was pretty bland so I added a lot of chili powder and extra salt. All to taste (clearly I am copping out of posting an actual recipe).

The morals of the story: 1) I should post as soon as I’ve cooked something, and 2) you don’t need to follow a recipe closely for something to still turn out good…or at least, edible.