thai recipe

[Guest guest]

I grew up eating Thai food, as my uncle(mother's brother) was married to a

wonderful woman from Thailand who loved to cook for us all.

I don't remember her making any veggie dishes as they are not too common in

Thailand so I hear, but here is one I got from my Thai group and it sounds

yummy. I am making this one this week. Although it's not tried and true by me

it's tried and true by them:

 

Thai Vegetarian Red Curry

 

Truly vegetarian or vegan Thai recipes are rare (at least in Thailand). There

are a number of reasons for this, not least the fact that most people find it

convenient to buy food from roadside vendors and hawkers rather than cook it

themselves, and very little of such food is vegetarian. There are added

problems: not only are fish sauce and shrimp paste signature ingredients of much

Thai food, they are also present in such key ingredients as curry pastes. Thus a

dedicated vegetarian must not only cook for themselves, but nearly always cook

from scratch, which is at the very least a time consuming process. Therefore you

may find the recipe below a bit more complicated than most contained in our

website.

 

As an alternative to the approach given here, you could thin the sauce with 2

cups of water or vegetable stock, and then simmer the vegetables in the sauce.

 

First we must prepare the rice. For this recipe we suggest a brown rice,

prepared as the aromatic rice.

 

2 cups aromatic brown rice

2 cups stock

2 cups water

2 tablespoons peanut oil

8 teaspoons shallots/purple onions, thinly sliced

4 teaspoons jalapenos, finely sliced

4 teaspoons ginger, freshly grated

 

Prepare the rice in an automatic rice cooker.

 

In a wok heat the oil, and then briefly saute the chili, onions and ginger until

aromatic. Stir the oil and aromatics into the rice, stirring vigorously so that

all the rice is coated with the mixture. Add the stock and water, and cook to

completion.

 

If preparing the rice on the stove top: Winnow the rice and check for stones.

 

In a wok sauté the aromatics, then add the rice to the wok remove it from the

heat, stir until coated with oil, then add the stock and water, and return to

the heat. Once it boils, lower the

heat to a gentle simmer, cover and leave undisturbed for 20 minutes.

 

----

 

While the rice is cooking we can prepare the curry:

 

First we convert the basic curry paste into a curry sauce...

 

nam jim kaeng khiaowan (green curry sauce).

 

ingredients

 

2 tablespoons green curry paste

1 cup coconut milk

2 tablespoons Maggi sauce

1 tablespoon palm sugar

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Thai chile peppers, finely sliced

1 tablespoon galangal, grated

1 tablespoon coriander/cilantro, finely chopped

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon fresh Thai basil leaves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon green peppercorns

1 tablespoon Thai chili in oil

2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

Thai pepper powder to taste.

 

In a saucepan over medium heat combine the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes,

stirring occasionally. Taste for flavor balance and adjust as necessary.

Transfer to a sauce boat or small bowl.

 

To complete the dish you need half a cup each of various vegetables to make a

total of 3 cups. We suggest cauliflower (separate the florets, and slice the

stalk thinly), asparagus, baby corn (cut lengthwise in half), bamboo shoots,

Thai eggplants (or standard aubergine, cut into balls with a melon baller), and

snow peas.

 

Place these in a bamboo steamer and steam until barely cooked (they should still

be firm and snap when bent).

 

Place the vegetables in separate serving bowls. Each diner then helps themselves

to rice, a selection of vegetables, and the curry sauce. For flavor contrast the

vegetables can also be eaten with any of the standard Thai dipping sauces

(adjusted if necessary to vegetarian/vegan requirements).

 

Serves 4

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

mmm...sounds good!

 

I love the idea of using a melon baller with the eggplant!

 

What is/are galangal...and lime leaves, don't think I've ever seen

them, though I havent' looked.

 

m