I always rely on many herbs for bland food flavors. Instead of just using onions. I always try not to underestimate small plants.
For example, basil. In my area, there is a type of local basil that is very easy to grow. The more the branches are cut, the faster it will grow thick. I only need to be diligent in cutting the flower part when the flowers appear because the appearance of flowers will cause the plant to change into an old phase.
Basil leaves are familiarly eaten raw with spicy food in my area. While I also like to add them to my dishes, of course the type of spicy food so that it can balance the strong taste of basil leaves.
From my old garden
This time I really miss basil leaves. In my new garden, I haven't planted basil plants. So, I have to buy basil leaves at the nearest market.
It's just that the basil leaves I buy from the market will quickly wilt. It's very different if I have basil from my own garden.
Look at the basil plants I have in my old garden. They are really lush and fresh. I just hope that I can grow basil leaves again.
Speaking of basil leaves, this time I will show you a recipe that uses basil leaves to strengthen the flavor.
For dinner, I will serve tempeh, more precisely spicy tempeh. For me, it is very easy to make this kind of stir-fried side dish. Because indeed, I only have a little time to make dinner after I gardened in my new garden.
THE INGREDIENTS
- 200 grams of tempeh
- 100 grams of basil, remove from the stems
- 3 small of green tomatoes
- 1 red tomato
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of shallots
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of sugar
- OPTIONAL: Chili
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1
I took my wooden cutting board, ready to cut the tempeh into pieces. I like to cut tempeh into cubes. It's so satisfying :)
After I'm done with tempeh, I cut green tomatoes and red tomatoes. You can skip green tomatoes if you don't like the slightly sour taste of green tomatoes.
After I'm done with tomatoes, I move on to chopping garlic and shallots. Instead of using a knife, I use a manual chopper that can speed up my work. I bought this tool for $1.5. It's very affordable and can lighten my work.
I then take kitchen scissors to cut the chilies into small pieces. I prefer cutting chilies rather than chopping chilies, and I also think it can reduce the heat on my hands.
Then, I remove the basil leaves from the basil stems. I wash the basil first.
STEP 2
Prepare a frying pan. I heat a little oil to fry tempeh. I don't fry tempeh more often. But this time I got tempeh with poor quality so I had to fry the tempeh so that they could taste good.
Fry the tempeh until browned. Then remove and drain so that not much oil is carried over during the next stir-fry process.
STEP 3
I also reduced the oil in the pan after frying the tempeh because I was going to use the cooking pan again. Then, stir-fry the chopped garlic and chopped shallots until fragrant.
STEP 4
I then added chopped chili, tempeh, chopped tomatoes, and basil leaves. Stir until everything is mixed well and I also added salt and sugar for balance of taste.
Then, I covered the cooking pan so that everything could cook evenly, about 4 minutes, then remove them and the side dish is ready to be served.
SERVE
I served this side dish with rice for my dinner, because I made this side dish as a side dish with rice. It's just that my husband and I have to be careful not to stock up on rice too much, because this side dish is very appetizing to us.
So I better cook a little rice to avoid over carbs and I can skip adding rice from my favorite dish, because there's basil power! I hope you're careful with this!
Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari
Anggrek Lestari is an Indonesian fiction writer who has published two major books. Now She is a full-time content creator. She has a goal to share life, poem, and food content that makes others happy and can get inspiration.
Contact Person: authoranggreklestari@gmail.com
Discord: anggreklestari#3009
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