Lisa was looking for a recipe to utilize the rest of our veggies from the CSA box, and came across this recipe from Food & Wine Magazine. Potatoes and broccoli are the big players here, with a supporting cast of mushrooms, tomatoes, and basil. The green curry paste we had on hand was pretty subtle, but still added a nice flavor to the dish.

Chris says:

Hot damn, I like this!

Lisa says:

What? It’s not hot at all. The flavor is really good though.

Chris says:

I didn’t mean “spicy” damn… I really like the flavors, too, and you can always make it spicier with the ol’ rooster…

Lisa says:

I like these generous portions… Hm, guess what I’m having for dinner tomorrow night while you’re at school?

Thai Vegetable Curry
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1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 onion, sliced thin
1/2″ ginger, sliced thin
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai green curry paste
14 oz can light coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup drained canned bamboo shoots, halved
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound broccoli, thick stems removed, tops cut into small florets (1 quart)
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons lime juice
1/3 cup thin-sliced basil leaves

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the curry paste and fry, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add the coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil. Stir in the soy sauce, brown sugar, salt, bamboo shoots, potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the tomato and heat through, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lime juice and basil.

Serve with rice.

4 Servings

Tonight I made a recipe that I had seen on Real Thai Recipes. Chicken is stir-fried with lots of garlic (yes, please!), white pepper, and fish sauce. To accompany the chicken I made a Thai Fried Rice based on a few different recipes online.

Chris says:

The garlic in this is so good!

Lisa says:

Why is it so spicy?

Chris says:

Is it? Doesn’t seem that way to me, there aren’t any hot chilies or anything… just pepper.

Lisa says:

It’s delicious, but yeah, seems spicy to me. Maybe I’m not used to white pepper… hey, what the?

Chris says:

I’m investigating by eating off your plate.

Lisa says:

Hands off, sucka!

Garlic and Pepper Chicken
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1 large chicken breast, sliced
1/4 cup garlic cloves, smashed
3/4 teaspoon palm sugar (or white sugar)
3/4 teaspoon white pepper powder or black pepper powder (or mix ‘em!)
1 3/4 teaspoons fish sauce
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)
2-3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cilantro leaves (for garnish)

Add vegetable oil to pan over medium-high heat. When oil is just about smoking, add in garlic and stir-fry until lightly browned. Add in chicken and stir-fry until chicken is fully cooked and starts to brown. If chicken starts to stick to pan, add a little water. Add in fish sauce, sugar, and white pepper, and stir until well blended, adding water if necessary. Serve immediately.

Thai Fried Rice
—————
1 tbsp peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, sliced
3 tbsp egg whites
3 cups cooked rice
1 roma tomato, cut into 8 wedges
1 green onion, chopped
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat until it’s almost smoking. Add the garlic until lightly browned, then add the shallots and stir-fry for a minute. Add in the egg whites and stir until egg is cooked through. Add in the rice, and stir in the remaining ingredients until warmed and well blended. Adjust spices to your liking.

Jenn sent us this recipe for Spicy Thai Beef Salad, the way it’s made at Surin of Thailand in Atlanta. We liked this version better than the one we made a few weeks ago — it was a lot easier, and the meat cooked a lot faster on the grill since it was already sliced. As listed below, I’d call the salad “medium” on the spicy scale, I added extra chili paste to mine to enable sweat-head.

Surin’s Spicy Beef Salad
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2 servings

Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp red chili paste
1 lb flank steak
1 small cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise, seeded and julienned
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp chopped green onion
romaine lettuce, in bite sized pieces

Preheat a grill to medium heat. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the lime juice, fish sauce and chili paste; set aside. Slice the beef into thin strips, then grill to medium. Add to the bowl with the chili paste mixture and toss to coat. Arrange the cucumber, onion, tomato, cilantro and green onion in a bowl. Add the steak and lightly toss. Put a handful of romaine lettuce on each plate and top with the steak and cucumber mixture.

Spicy, sour, salty… scrumptious! We’ve been wanting to make this dish for a while, and finally found a recipe that sounded like a winner. We marinated the flank steak in garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, pepper, and sugar overnight. Then tonight we put the dressing and the salad together, grilled the steak on the Weber, sliced it up, and the next thing you know, the plates were empty.

Recipe: Tiger Cries Salad — note that the steps listed for this recipe are kind of rambling; it would be wise to read them through before starting. You’ll probably only need to pay attention to the first third of the steps.

Chicken is stir-fried with basil, peppers, garlic, shallots, and mix of fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. I based this recipe on two or three I saw online, so here goes:

Thai Basil Chicken (Serves 2)
——————
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic
2 thai chili peppers
1 shallot
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbp water
1 tbsp sugar
2 big bunches of basil* (I only had one on hand this time, 2 would be perfect)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 1/2 cups cooked white rice

Directions:

Mince garlic, thai peppers, and shallots and set aside.
Mix fish sauce, soy sauce and water together, set aside.
Measure out sugar, set aside.

Heat wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil — when hot, add the minced garlic, chilies, and shallots. Cook until garlic begins to turn a golden color.

Add chicken, and stir fry until no longer pink, about 3-4 minutes.

Add fish sauce mixture and stir fry to combine well with meat, about 1 minute.
Add sugar and stir fry for another 30 seconds.

Add basil and bell peppers and toss. Stir fry until the basil wilts.

Transfer to serving bowl, serve with cooked rice.

* A note on basil — You’ll use a lot, so try to find a big bunch at a farmers market or asian market. It’ll be a lot cheaper than buying those little blister packs that run about $2.50/each!