Dirty Tuesday: Asian Super Stores

A new urban-sleek-chic Asian supermarket opened up in Melbourne Central, which is great it you happened to be at Coles and need tofu puffs. However, if you happen to be shopping at Safeway in the QV and need tofu puffs, look no further than Laguna on the second level. It's not sleek and doesn't smell like flowers, but it's rather comprehensive as far as my limited knowledge of Asian products go. I can't read the labels on half of the things in there but I managed to find: tamarind puree (for marinating my tempeh), agar agar (for vodka jelly shots), square rice noodles for kuay tieow-inspired (pronounced: koy-tiao) stir fries and a very authentic tasting pad thai sauce with very bad translations on the label.

I've recently become a fan of tempeh after fashioning a tempeh wrap at work for dinner. The key to making tempeh palatable is marinating it, like tofu, which is what I did for this week's stir fry: Pad Thai-style Kuay Tieow with tamarind-soy tempeh (square rice noodles, vegetables flavoured with pad thai sauce and sauteed tempeh marinated in soy sauce and tamarind puree).

Also on this week's menu...

Honey-Roasted Eggplant and Leek Salad with orzo, sun dried tomatoes and parsley
Channa Dahl with Brown Rice and plenty of fresh coriander
Macaroni Gratinate with a Roasted Red Capsicum Sauce, spinach and Feta