One thing I’ve always encouraged cooks and chefs to do is challenge themselves by creating new dishes with dietary restrictions in mind. I constantly offer to cook for my vegetarian and vegan friends, as it provides a unique opportunity to think outside of the box.

Too often vegetarian or vegan fare is just a salad or a few stir-fried vegetables; there is usually very little creativity when creating these menu options. When cooking vegetarian/vegan fare, I tend to rely on the developed and deep flavors of fermented foods. For this meal, I drew inspiration from the peanut stews of the Philippines and various countries in Africa.

The versions of kare kare, a Filipino stew, that I have tasted and learned to make use peanut butter and ground roasted peanuts to flavor and thicken the stew. It is commonly served with shrimp paste, which adds a salty finish and is full of umami.

This reminded me of a West African stew, mafé, I had the pleasure of trying through my friend and colleague, Yvann. As he explained, mafé is made with peanut butter to thicken and flavor the stew, the first I had experienced a stew made this way. It had a deep, rich, and nutty flavor that was cut by the addition of tomatoes and tomato paste, adding a bright acidity to counteract the peanut butter base.

Taking inspiration from these two peanut stews, I developed my own version. I used aka (red) miso for salt and umami as well as tahini, which cuts the peanut flavor but still adds the rich nuttiness you would find in kare kare and mafé. Since I still had some black garlic from making black garlic bao buns, I incorporated a couple of cloves in this stew as well. If you don’t have any, feel free to omit this.

Preparation

To start the stew, get your mise en place ready:

• Dice one medium onion
• Mince 5 cloves of garlic and 2 cloves of black garlic
• Cube one container of firm or extra firm tofu
• Cut 2 Japanese eggplants into bite-sized pieces, using the rolling method to cut irregular chunks. I also like to partially peel the eggplant such that you have alternating strips of meat and skin. I do this for a few reasons:

1. Presentation
2. In a restaurant version of this dish, I would blanch-fry the eggplant. The removal of some skin creates a better mouthfeel and removes some of the bitterness you may find from the eggplant skin
   

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Get stewing

With your mise en place set, begin heating a pot or wok over medium-high heat. I elected to use sesame oil to carry the sesame flavor throughout the dish, but you can use any cooking oil you have on hand. If you choose sesame, you must keep a close eye on the heat, as to not burn the oil - your nose is your best friend here. With the pan and oil heated, add the ingredients in the order listed:

• Onion, 30 seconds
• Garlic, 20 seconds
• Pinch of salt, this is an important step in layering flavors
• Reduce heat to medium
• Tomato paste, aka miso, peanut butter, tahini, 1 minute
• Sugar, mirin, sake, apple cider vinegar
• Stir to incorporate
• Vegetable stock, bay leaves

Stir the pot to dissolve the paste and let it simmer on medium-low for about 20 minutes. Add the tofu and gently mix. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, letting the tofu absorb some of the cooking liquid and letting the whole pot come back up to a uniform temperature. Finally, add the eggplant, cover and let simmer until the eggplant is to the texture of your liking. I wanted my eggplant to be more toothsome, which took about 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve.

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Goes well with bread

To pair with the stew, I prepared a vegan cornbread, utilizing the same ingredients in the stew: aka miso and tahini.

Start by preheating your oven to 425°F.

I used fresh corn in my cornbread, which can be substituted out for frozen corn if needed.

For fresh corn, remove the kernels from the cob before proceeding to the next step.

Steep the corn, and cobs if using fresh corn, in soy milk for 5 minutes over low heat to flavor the soy milk. Remove the cobs and transfer to a blender. Add salt, aka miso, tahini, sesame oil, and apple cider vinegar and pulse until the kernels are lightly puréed and the ingredients are well incorporated.

In another bowl, add your dry ingredients:

• All purpose (AP) flour
• Cornmeal
• Sugar
• Salt
• Baking powder

Add the soy milk mixture and mix to combine. The resulting batter should be thick but pourable, think wet cement. If the batter is on the thin side, add cornmeal and AP flour, alternating 1 tablespoon at a time. If the batter is on the thick side, stream in soy milk until you reach the desired consistency.

I used a cast iron skillet for my cornbread, my preferred method to achieve a crusty bottom and edges, but feel free to use any baking pan that you have.

For a cast iron skillet, slightly preheat the skillet and add sesame oil, or any oil of your choice. For a baking pan, grease the pan with oil or line with parchment paper.

Pour in the batter and spread evenly. Bake until golden brown on top. This took me about 20-25 minutes. Test the doneness with a toothpick. If still slightly raw, cover with foil and return to the oven, otherwise rest for 15 minutes.

To serve, plate the stew alongside some rice and serve with a slice of cornbread.

Enjoy

Optional: add about a tablespoon of soy sauce, depending on your preference, and a dollop of yuzu kosho, a Japanese condiment made with yuzu, salt, and chili peppers. The addition of fresh soy sauce and yuzu kosho adds a bright, salty, bitter, and spicy finish to the dish; really elevating this to next level. Garnish with cilantro or parsley, take an Instagram picture, tag #msgkitchen, and enjoy with no regrets.

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