I’m glad and all that the safety of our tomatoes has been secured but the war on peppers needs to stop, now.

I’ve been making this Thai Basil tempeh dish for a while now and it’s one of my favorites. And, because I haven’t found a reliable source of Asian peppers locally, I’ve been making it with Serrano peppers. Those, along with their evil cousins the jalapeños, are apparently what’s been making people sick now that we know the tomatoes were just innocent bystanders. So, to protect the American public health, Meijer has pulled all of their Serrano peppers. Even if I promised to cook them really, really well, no peppers for me!

Not being one to let the loss of an ingredient prevent me from making a favorite dish, I pressed myself to find a substitute. Finally I did and with this substitution I think the recipe has been tweaked enough to call it my own. So without further ado, here’s the recipe.

Thai Basil Tempeh

• 8 oz tempeh, cut into one inch cubes
• 3 cloves garlic, whole
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• juice of a lime
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamri
• 2 tablespoons Braggs
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• half a cup of Thai basil, finely chopped

Combine the tempeh, garlic cloves and broth in a small pan. I usually add a dash of Braggs as well. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. In a bowl, mix the remaining ingredients except for the basil. When the tempeh is done simmering, put some oil (I usually use peanut) in a skillet and get it hot. Add the tempeh and garlic to the pan and saute for three minutes, then add the sauce you made earlier and saute for another three minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the basil and let sit for a few minutes for the flavors to come together.

Serve over rice or noodles.

I love to cook but I don’t normally post a lot of recipes on here for a couple of reasons. I have a pretty high tolerance for food boredom and tend to make the same thing over and over. And a lot of what I make is pretty much right out of a cookbook. Isa really doesn’t need another fanboy saying, “Wow, VwaV really rocks!”

And, I rarely measure things. So pretty much all of the quantities that follow are a WAG and you should feel free to change them as you like. You love garlic? Bung in some more cloves. Don’t like heat? Leave out the red pepper. I promise, you won’t hurt my feelings.

So, on to the recipe. The sauce started out as Dreena Burton’s “Hide the Lentils” Tomato Sauce. That didn’t turn out too well for me, the lentils didn’t get cooked and the taste was a bit bland. So I changed things up a bit and this is what I ended up with. Enjoy!

For the lentils:

• 3.5 cups of water
• .75 cups of lentils

The pasta:

• 1 pound of pasta

For the sauce:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• .5 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 jar sliced green olives
• 1 can sliced black olives
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• .5 teaspoon of agave necter
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Combine the water and lentils in a medium size pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and then add the onions, peppers and mushrooms. Saute for about seven minutes or until the mushrooms have released their liquid. Then add the garlic and the olives and cook for about a minute longer. Add the spices, the tomatoes, the agave necter and the cooked lentils, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the mixture begins to stick or looks too thick, add some water. When it’s finished cooking, turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar.

Combine the sauce and pasta and serve!