Speedy BBQ sauce and a Maple walnut asparagus bowl

Do you ever make a large jar of sauce and every time you open the fridge and pass over it, you feel its accusing look?  As soon as I saw Elizabeth's BBQ sauce, I wanted it that night.  It used pantry ingredients and only made a small amount.  And it looked really tasty.  Then the night went a bit Pete Tong and I had to wait until I had time on the weekend.  I was determined to use up a packet of tempeh that had crept past the use-by date a few days ago.  The BBQ sauce was surprisingly good with the tempeh and some leftover fried rice.

Converting a sauce for meat to a sauce for vegetarians can be a little fiddly.  I found the sauce too sweet and lacking in salt.  (Perhaps because I skimped on the chilli powder, my Worcestershire sauce was running out and I didn't have muscavado sugar.)  A little blackstrap molasses and some extra seasoning fixed it.  It is not BBQ weather and, even if it was, we don't have a BBQ.  I got out my much-neglected ridged grill pan.

The tempeh looked pretty with the grill marks.  I did need some patience to wait for them to appear.  You might notice on the above photo that there is one piece of tempeh without decent grill marks that I turned over too early.  I also needed the fan on because it got quite smoky in the kitchen.  I wondered if it would have worked better if I had got the tempeh sliced a little thinner.  Easier said than done.  Or maybe tried to press out more moisture.  Or marinaded it longer with the sauce.  Coulda woulda shoulda!

I was concerned the E wouldn't like the tempeh but he did.   We even ate the rest of the leftover tempeh between us on the same night.  Once all the (leftover) fried rice was gone, E hit upon the idea of slathering a bit more sauce over the tempeh.  This worked brilliantly.  It used up a lot of the sauce still in the jar.

Just a little sauce was left in the jar.  I made some rapid refried beans for nacho the next night.  Instead of adding tomato paste to the beans, I added the sauce.  It gave great flavour.  So much so that when I make this BBQ sauce again I might use leftovers wherever I need some tomato paste.  I am not sure it will last that long though.

The odd thing about blogging is that even with all the great food I write about I can still draw blank at dinner time.  Today found me leafing through cookbooks for a simple salad dressing.  Instead I found an idea for maple walnuts in Alice Hart's Vegetarian.  I fried mine on the stovetop with maple syrup, a little liquid smoke and some of the Old Bay Seasoning I found on the weekend.  They were brilliant with lemon fried asparagus and some vegies tossed in red wine vinegar and nutritional yeast flakes.  In fact I had to fight Sylvia to keep my share of the walnuts.

Not a recipe as such, but a great quick dinner idea.  Something simple so I can eat with Sylvia.  Then I made a Coconut Chana Saag from Isa Does It to last out the week before we head off on holiday for the last few days of Vegan MoFo.  I will share some food from my trips to Adelaide and Port Fairy after Vegan MoFo. 

Detail from Mural by Trevor Nickolls at the Adelaide Festival Centre Amphitheatre

More tempeh and tofu marinades and sauces on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Apricot and orange glazed tofu
Aussie bbq tofu with rice noodles and carrot salad
Matthews delicious tofu 
Orange glazed tempeh 
Tamarind Tempeh with Noodles
'Teriyaki' tofu with brown rice and kale
Tofu in a tomato, lemongrass and ginger sauce  

Barbecue sauce
Adapted from Elizabeth's Kitchen

2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rice bran oil (or oil of choice)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoked mild paprika
1/2 tsp chilli paste, or to taste
1/2 tsp onion granules
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried mustard
seasoning

Mix ingredients together to make a thick sauce. 

On the stereo:
Ugly Beautiful: Baby Bird

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food September 2014.  This year for Vegan MoFo my theme is The Letter S.  Today is S for Some recipes I couldn't fit in during the week.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2014 Vegan MoFo posts.