Chilli Peanut & Coconut Soup

My adventures in vegan cooking continued last night with a concoction from The Vegan Cookbook by Adele McConnell. This is the third recipe I’ve tried from this book. The last one was the ill-fated TofuUdon Bowl.

I made Chilli Peanut and Coconut Soup featuring tempeh (pronounced tem-pay), which is a fermented soya product. It’s really nothing like tofu as it was really textured and the flavor was overwhelming. I have to admit, even though I was really excited to try it, I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t like the taste, which despite soaking in soy sauce with chilli flakes, wasn’t good. My husband really liked it though.

I spent about an hour shelling peanuts when I got home from work, as I couldn’t find shelled roasted and unsalted peanuts anywhere. Doing so made me really crazy hot boiled peanuts, a southern roadside delicacy, so that may be on my blog in the near future.

The soup itself was goodish. I really thought it was going to taste more Thai as the smells emanating from the wok smelled like a Thai curry. Instead it was coconut infused soup that was a bit too bland.

The seasoning really came from the tempeh and even though I used a hand blender to whaz it all up, the peanut were still there giving it a nice crunch and with raw spring onions, purple mange tout and coriander leaves there was a lovely crispness to the soup.

This recipe wasn’t an epic fail but I don’t think it will be making it again. I am a bit disappointed that my tempeh hopes have been dashed. Oh well.