This is a vegan version of a Filipino recipe, Binagoongan Baboy sa Gata. It’s a variant of my own recipe with yellow peppers instead of aubergines, and a few other changes in ingredients. The less common ingredients in this recipe are dried tofu (bean curd) sticks, doenjang, a Korean-style soybean paste and tobanjan, a broad bean chilly paste.
vegan gluten-free 30-minutes • 900 kcal per person 
Ingredients
For two people:
- Fresh ingredients & groceries
- 2 cm ginger, finely chopped
- 1 stick celery, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 medium yellow peppers, cut lengthwise into strips
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 50 g tofu sticks
- 50 g creamed coconut
- From the store cupboard
- a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 cup of cashew nuts, coarsely ground
- 1/2 teaspoon tobanjan paste
- 1 teaspoon doenjang paste
- 1 tablespoon cooking wine (e.g. mirin or shaoxing)
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 2 tablespoons rice bran oil
- 1 cup of rice (preferably jasmine rice)
Preparation
- Soak the tofu sticks in very hot water for 30 minutes.
- Soak the shiitake in very hot water for 30 minutes.
- Grate the creamed coconut
- Meanwhile
- Cook the peppers 6 minutes in the microwave at full power (900W).
- Drain the cooking liquid into a small bowl. Add the cooking wine, doenjang and tobanjan and stir to dissolve.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan. When the oil is hot, add the ginger, celery and garlic and fry for a few minutes over medium heat.
- Add the peppers to the pan and stir fry for a few minutes.
- Drain the tofu sticks and cut them into pieces.
- Add the tofu sticks and the ground cashews to the pan and cook until lightly browned.
- Add the dissolved doenjang and tobanjan, tomatoes and vinegar and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.
- Add about a cup of hot water to the grated coconut, stir to dissolve and add to the pan
- Simmer for a few minutes over lower heat. Add some of the soaking liquid of the mushrooms if required.
- Let it reduce for a few minutes
- Serve with rice