Curried Tempeh and Vegetables

We were supposed to go away for the weekend, but our plans changed. My wife got to attend an online bloggers conference tonight, and I went to see the first performers in this year's 75th anniversary American Dance Festival (quite good including an updated piece, the original which we also enjoyed, by Shen Wei where some dancers had paint on their hands or feet, generating an abstract painting in the process!).

Before these evening activities, I made dinner. I've not been shopping for a few days, but came up with a good meal from what I had. I noticed that we had a little bit of basmati rice left from last Sunday's dinner. My wife had picked up some flat Indian paratha breads for our travel, as well. I heated both to accompany the main dish.

For that main dish, I started sauteeing tempeh, cut into big chunks. I didn't have canola oil, so used olive - which I don't like to use for the flavor it imparts when I cook Indian dishes. After 3 or 4 minutes, I added half of a thin eggplant that I had sliced into 1/4" pieces, as well as a fifth of a medium red onion, cut into a large dice of maybe 3/8". Eggplant sops up oil, so I had to add a little more oil; a few minutes later, I added a half dozen or so quartered Brussels sprouts and a summer squash, cut into 3/8" slices.

A few minute later when everything was cooked, I added a little salt, some chili powder, a pinch or two of turmeric, and a few pinches of my wife's Mom's homemade garam masala spice mixture. I mixed well, then served.