I haven’t used tempeh much, and it’s not a usual ingredient in Thai curries, but there’s a nice selection of tempeh available to me at the moment and I do quite like it as a change from normal tofu. The tempeh used for this dish comes with some wild rice baked into it. It could of course be replaced with normal tofu, but I think that the tempeh actually works quite well in the Thai curry; I might try this again with Green Thai curry (I’ve posted a recipe for one before).

Red Thai Curry with Wild Rice Tempeh

Ingredients
250g (Wild Rice) Tempeh
1 Yellow Squash
2 Carrots
1 Small Broccoli
1 Yellow Onion
2-5 Tablespoons of Red Curry Paste (check for fish sauce!)
400ml Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon Hot Pepper Sesame Oil (or something similar)
1 Cup of Brown Rice

Serves two. Coconut milk is very heavy, and rich in saturated fat, so I recommend using a light version if available. The veggies were a fairly random selection of what we happened to have in the fridge. You could also add some chopped chillies to this.

Red Thai Curry with Wild Rice Tempeh

Cooking
Time required: ~45min
-Prepare the rice (brown rice takes a while to cook), and cook.
-Chop the onion and fry on its own until golden.
-Chop the tempeh into cubes and add to pan, season with the hot pepper sesame oil (or add some chillies for instance), fry for some 5min.
-Chop the carrots and squash into desired shape, add to pan.
-Fry for a moment, then add the coconut milk.
-Simmer on low heat under cover for 10-15min.

I ended up boiling most of the coconut milk away, but personally I like a thick consistency in a curry sauce, or any sauce for that matter. This was a nice spicy dish with an added curiosity of the distinct tempeh-flavour. I’m tempted to experiment more with tempeh now. I’ve had rather similar dishes in Indonesian restaurants though — they do a curry-type thing which is quite close to Thai curries in some respects, but with tempeh.