Quick Lunch Series: Roasted Eggplant & Cauliflower

This recipe is adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 Japanese Eggplant, sliced into wedges

1/2 Cauliflower cut into florets

1-2 tbsp red curry paste

1 cup chickpeas

1-2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 small piece of ginger grated

olive oil

salt to taste

a few fresh basil leaves

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

If using dry chickpeas, soak in water overnight and steam. If using canned, rinse and set aside.

Toss eggplant, cauliflower, ginger, garlic, oil, salt and curry paste. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes until lightly brown.

Add chickpeas and mix well. Continue to roast for another 5-10 minutes.

Garnish with basil and serve warm over a bowl of rice. Perfect for that office day meal.

Sprouted Mung Bean and Thai Green Curry Soup

The Thai Flavored, Sprouted Moth Bean and Vegetable Soup was delicious, so this time I decided to try a theme of green curry. This gets even more green than my Green, Green Soup!

As usual, I made this up as I went. To me, Thai green curry  is not complete without coconut milk, baby corn, bamboo shoots and green curry paste. And of course broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery and kale bring out the green in the soup!

I ended up using more coconut milk that I originally envisioned, so it ended up a lot more creamy. The flavors are mild enough that it can be eaten as soup or serve with some warm Jasmine rice.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sprouted green gram
3-4 green onions, chopped
2 cups of vegetables: broccoli florets, sliced Brussels sprouts, baby corn, chopped celery, and sliced radish.  Can also use snow peas, zucchini, asparagus, lemon grass, dried lime leaves, green or yellow bell pepper.
1 cup chopped kale
2 cups coconut milk, I used 1/2 creamed coconut and 1/2 lite coconut milk
2-3 tsp Thai green curry paste
salt to taste
1-2 tsp red chili in oil (optional)
2 cups water
some fresh chopped basil leaves
dash of lime juice
dash of sugar
salt to taste

Bring coconut milk, water and green curry paste to a boil. Add in sprouted green gram and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Add in the vegetables, except kale and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and some sugar. Add in kale, fresh chopped basil and red chili in oil (optional) and cook for 5-10 minutes until the kale is wilted.

Drizzle some lemon juice and serve warm, with some fresh bread, bowl of Jasmine rice or with some crispy spring rolls!

Quick Lunch Series: Cabbage Thai Curry with Brown Rice

Cabbage is such a bland vegetable, that I am constantly looking for new recipes. As I scoured for new ways to cook cabbage this weekend, I came across this one. It seemed perfect for that office day meal with some brown rice, making it hearty, healthy, spicy and most importantly, fulfilling!

Ingredients:
1/2 green cabbage cut into chunks
1 onion chopped into chunks
1 green pepper cut into chunks
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes sliced
2 lemon grass stalks
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 inch ginger chopped
some fresh basil chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 tbsp red curry
1-2 tbsp Thai red chilli oil (option) or use fish oil
Salt to taste
1-2 tsp brown sugar

Combine all ingredients except the tomatoes, and the basil and bring to a boil. Cook for 10-20 minutes until the cabbage softens.

Add sliced tomatoes and basil. Add fish oil or thai red chilli oil as per preference. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve warm with some Jasmine rice (white or brown).

Thai Red Curry with Jasmine Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup of Jasmine rice

Curry Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk
1 bag fresh (from Trader Joes) or frozen stir fry veges ( I usually prefer the frozen Asian vegetables with baby corn, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, brocolli, onion, mushroom, green beans and carrots)
1 tbsp red curry paste (I usually prefer Thai red curry from Whole Foods that does not contain fish or shrimp sauce)
1 tbsp red pepper chilli in oil ( my special ingredient to give the extra oomp! can be found in Whole Foods or Safeway)
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 slab of deep fried tofu. If buying plain tofu, soak in soy sauce and deep fry in a little oil till lightly golden (be careful when doing this!)

Salt to taste

Cook the rice in a rice cooker with two cups of water until fluffy and set aside.

In a large pan mix the red curry paste and coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add the stir fry vegetables and continue cooking.  Add brown sugar, salt to taste (or soy sauce),  red chilly in oil (optional) and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the deep fried tofu and cook for a few more minutes. Toss in some fresh Thai basil just before removing from the stove. Remove from flame and serve hot with jasmine rice.

For fish or shrimp recipe continue to follow the directions on the Thai red curry  paste bottle

Yummy!