Thai Green Curry - 2 ways

We make different varieties of Thai curry for dinner at least a few times per week, so we buy the curry paste in large quantities. Recently we ran out of green curry paste and replenished our stock from the Asian market. I was so irritated to realize, after getting it home and cooking with it one time, that this brand contained shrimp paste! Fortunately, the market also carries a brand that is vegan and my friend Miriam was more than happy to take the other off my hands.

We generally make the curry sauce the same: green curry paste, coconut milk, a little vegetarian stir fry sauce, and a little palm sugar. Sometimes a splash of Mirin or soy, sometimes extra ginger and garlic. The veggies are typically onion, bell peppers, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, and whatever else seems good at the time.

The most recent variations:

Red Rice and 'Veef' (vegetarian beef)

Noodles and Vegan Shrimp

Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

I strongly believe this salad recipe has potential, but I ruined this potential with bad lettuce and too much hot sauce! First, the lettuce I bought was extremely tough. It was organic romaine but has the consistency of cabbage (for the white part) and kale (for the green). Not appetizing!

The dressing was delicious before I discovered my bottle of Sriracha had a little blockage, which quickly became unblocked when I applied a little pressure. The result was about 4 times the amount I can stand! Even John was struggling with it.

We had spring rolls on the side (not pictured) and they helped immensely by offering a bit of cool relief.  

The recipe is from Appetite for Reduction.

Hoison-Mustard Tofu with Unfried Fried Rice

The original recipe for the tofu includes lettuce wraps. That would have been delicious, but we did not have the right lettuce. So, we just served it alongside the rice and were very happy!

Both recipes are from Appetite for Reduction (my other cookbooks have been getting dusty lately!)

The recipe for the tofu is here. I bought a huge jar of hoisin sauce from the Asian market a few weeks ago, so fortunately we really enjoy the flavor!

The Unfried Fried rice is nothing really special, just rice cooked with sesame oil, shallot, garlic, ginger, soy and green onion. We added carrot and snow peas.

Sesame Noodles with Peanut Dip and Veggies

I used a package of precooked soba noodles. They are sauteed in sesame oil. The dressing (delicious!) consists of peanuts, oatmilk, soysauce, tahihi, sesame oil, sake, maple syrup, ginger and garlic, all blended in a blender. We served it with sauteed veggies. The recipe is from Love Bites.

Bhutanese Pineapple Rice with Red Thai Tofu

Both recipes are from Appetite for Reduction and both are delish! When I make each of them again it won't be together. They both use basically the same spices and flavors: garlic, ginger, red curry paste, etc. The green beans are simply roasted with salt and pepper and a light spray of olive oil.

I have been cooking many recipes from this cookbook and none have failed me so far. I have noticed a significant difference in the amount of oil that remains in the bottle since I brought the book home. One of my goals for this year with cooking was to reduce our use of oil...check!

Vegan MoFo: Z is for Zucchini in London

At last, my final post for Vegan MoFo! I had a fanastic time finding new recipes for each letter of the alphabet, but it really did wear me down. So, I am excited for December because I will be traveling the entire month and plan to post about all the interesting vegan restaurants I find along my way...while also enjoying a break from cooking!

Currently, we are in London on vacation and we ate dinner at a really good Chinese/Thai Vegetarian buffet and they had roasted zucchini as an option.

    

Here is another picture of a successful trip to the buffet.

And, here is a picture of the restaurant. It is called Cai Cafe. We found it on the Happy Cow website.

Vegan MoFo: T is for Thai Peanut-Burger Wraps

Here is a link to the recipe posted by another blogger. I forgot to put the cilantro in the burgers so we just stuffed it in the pita with the lettuce.

The burgers were so good. Lots of flavor, good texture, and the recipe says that it makes 4 large burgers but I ended up with a dozen! 

I did not follow the recipe for the spicy peanut sauce. Instead, I mixed equal parts of soy, agave, and peanut butter.

I made a batch of pitas. I am telling you! Homemade pita bread is mouthwatering!

Tofu Tikka Masala with Red Rice

During one of my latest trips to the Asian Market, I found a jar of Tikka paste and set my sights on Tikka Masala! Tikka means chunks of; masala means a mixture of spices.


There is a speedy recipe on the jar that calls for 500 grams of chicken, but tofu was the perfect vegan substitute. The tofu is marinated in the following for 2 hours: 4 TBSP Tikka paste, 1 TBSP soy yogurt, 2 TBSP vegan butter.

After marinating, pour the tofu and sauce into a pan, add veggies and cook to the desired vegetable consistency.

While I was in Thailand in August of this year, my absolute favorite Thai meal was served with red rice. I was extremely excited to find red rice in Denmark.

Thai Chick*n Pizza

Last time I was at Ganefryd, an organic grocery store here in Aarhus, I found frozen Sesame Chick*n nuggets. My original plan was to top a salad off with them but then decided to get a bit more creative. We are having a good friend stay with us this weekend (I think she is still a vegetarian too!!!!) and I wanted to have something easy and fun ready to eat when she arrived late in the evening. We also added two fantastic friends, David and Julia, to the mix. Julia helped prepare the pizza so I could take pictures!

Upon googling Sesame Chicken Pizza with no luck, I stumbled upon this Thai Chicken Pizza recipe. This "how to" video moves really quickly, but flashes the actual recipe for less than 5 seconds at the end, so be ready to pause it! The jist of the recipe is simple: crust, peanut sauce, chicken, veggies, peanuts, and cheese.

I made the crust from this recipe. It has a sweet flavor, is chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside. For the peanut sauce, I added equal parts of the following: agave, peanut butter, and soy sauce. Delish! Along with the Sesame Chick*n, I included red peppers, yellow squash, carrot, and green onion. I still had a ton of Black Sesame Parm leftover, so that was sprinkled on top.

To balance flavors out, and ensure enough pizza for all, I also prepared a second, more traditional pizza. I followed the same crust recipe mentioned above, minus the sugar, plus Italian seasonings. The sauce was a jar of spaghetti sauce and the pizza was topped with veggies, soy Chorizo, and black olives.

Southeast Asia on a Vegan Shoestring

My blog has been severely neglected lately but with good reason. I have been/will be traveling through South East Asia for the month of August. So far, I have been to Pangkor Island, Malaysia; Boracay, Philippines; and Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Finding vegan food has been a cinch, especially Thailand. Today, I had the most amazing lunch consisting of tofu and green beans in a spicy red curry and green curry all served on a red colored rice. It was insanely spicy but well worth the burn! The restaurant was called Thai Vegetarian Food (very original!) and was a large cart in front of a sitting area. There were about a dozen prepared dishes to choose from. I pointed and the guy loaded my plate. The charge was 20 baht (about 63 cents!!!)


Tomorrow, I am off to Siam Rice Thai Cookery School! We prepare a 6 course meal, including a homemade curry paste and curry dish, noodle dish, soup, salad, stir fried vegetable, and dessert. So freaking excited! I will post pictures of my work soon!

Ginger Veggie Stir Fry (2 ways)

Initially, this stir fry was to accompany bean curd. The bean curd flopped but this recipe was a fantastic score. I made it two nights in one week, once with rice and once with noodles. It isn't really anything special (I used flour instead of corn starch) but for some reason, I couldn't get enough of it!

Red Curry with Spinach Noodles

Even though our apartment still has the lingering odor of Indian curry from the previous tenant, Thai curry surprisingly sounded good for dinner. I found red curry paste and organic coconut milk at Foetex (a grocery/Target style store within walking distance of our apartment). I start by cooking down an onion and handful of chopped garlic in water. After the onion is soft, I add 2 tablespoons of the curry paste and the can of coconut milk and cook until it is boiling. Next, turn the heat off, add whatever veggies you want and let them cook down in the hot sauce until they are your desired texture. We like ours still a little crisp. I added a little sliced avocado to the dish.

Normally we eat the curry over Jasmin rice but I found spinach noodles in the Thai food section and decided they would be an interesting substitution for the rice. I also get very tired of rice so a brake is always welcomed.

The coloring of the picture makes everything look a bit green (or yellow??) because the lighting in the apartment is very sparse.

I would also like to point out the white dishes we are now using!!! The yellow and blue floral, Aztec, country fusion pattern of the dishes in Vienna (we live in furnished apartments and have no choices!) was nothing to be sad about leaving behind!

Samosa Quesadillas and Pineapple Fried Rice

With my homemade flour tortillas, I decided to try Samosa Quesadillas from the Vegan Mom blog. They sounded so easy: mashed potatoes, peas, curry. For some reason, my mashed potatoes were a disaster. I boiled the potatoes, then added them to the food processor with a little coconut milk. The result was a glue-like, completely unforgiving gooey mess. It overflowed in the food processor and created an hour plus clean-up project for me. Deciding to power on, I spatulaed the majority of the mess out of the food processor (and off the counter and in/under/around the blade) and added the peas and curry. I can see why this would be a great meal, with the right potato mixture!

I also made Pineapple fried rice. This is the recipe I vaguely followed. I omitted the carrot, raisins, peas, and the egg and instead added zucchini, green onion, and red pepper.

Tom Yum Thai Spicy Soup

Tom Yum - and it was really yummie. I was not familiar with some of the ingredients, or at least hadn't cooked with them in the past. But, our grocery store sells a set of lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, chilies, and galangal in the exact portions necessary for this recipe. I also saw the ingredients in larger portions in the refrigerator section of an Asian market. I did not put basil in my soup and used a whole can of coconut milk, not half.

Flexible Thai Soup and Spring Rolls

I think the soup is called "flexible" because you can add any vegetables you feel like. I added a handful of spinach, a cup of sliced mushrooms, and half a block of tofu, cut into strips. I used a very large shallot and 4 cloves of garlic, instead of 1. For the lemon juice, I used 2 TBSP of the kind in the plastic lemon. For the chili sauce, I used a few squirts of Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce. It is really good stuff and has its own facebook page. Random, yes! It is served over jasmine rice.




I also made spring rolls to go with the soup. I could make and eat these every day! I was first introduced to them by Isa Chandra Moskowitz at a cooking demo. Yes, she is the amazing author of my favorite cookbooks including Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and Veganomicon. They are insanely easy, versatile and great for having people over and making together. For this batch, I included yellow pepper, mushrooms, spinach, green onions, rice noodles, and smoked tofu. I made this dipping sauce but added a pinch of hot sauce and a dash of lemon juice along with a 1 inch piece of diced ginger.

Thai Stirfry with Thai Tofu and Jasmine Rice

This is one of John's favorite meals, a great way to get tons of veggies, and extremely easy. Unfortunately, I completely finished preparing the sauce before realizing my coconut milk had gone sour. I ended up having to throw it away, make 2 trips the grocery store (also ran out of curry powder!), and eat a very late dinner. But still a nutritiously filling meal with lots of leftovers to make packing lunch for John simple.

The sauce consists of 2-3 diced garlic cloves, an inch-long diced piece of fresh ginger, and a large onion diced. This is all cooked down in a wok or large pan. After the onions are soft and translucent, pour in a can of coconut milk, a Tbsp lemon juice, a teaspoon rapadura (or brown sugar), and 2 tsp curry powder. When this is warm and bubbly, you can add any veggies you want and cook them to your desired consistency. We like crunch veggies, so we cook it for no more than a few minutes.

It goes very well over Jasmine rice and this is a great recipe but takes about 40 minutes so get it cooking first!

I also baked Thai flavored tofu to go along with the stirfry.

Coconut Rice and Spring Rolls

With John still not feeling 100%, a late and filling lunch of leftover pasta still in our bellies, and movies to watch, we settled on a light dinner consisting of spring rolls and a new rice recipe.

Usually I set the spring rolls up buffet style and let everyone make their own. It can get quite entertaining! But, a buffet seemed less appealing with a sick person in the house so I made them all ahead of time. To make sure they were still moist when we were ready to eat, I sat them on and covered them with wet paper towels. This is extremely important because they dry out fast.

The rolls are wrapped in rice paper (actually made with tapioca) that is soaked in warm water until completely soft. For the filling, I used random groupings of the following ingredients: baby spinach, baked tofu (marinated in spicy thai seasonings), cooked rice noodles, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, avocado, red pepper, carrot, and green beans.

I normally make this sauce but felt lazy and didn't want another pan to wash. Instead, I mixed light and dark soy sauce, a smashed garlic clove, a splash of apple cider vinegar, water, and a squirt of Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce and a squirt of agave syrup. It was fantastic, so easy, and gained permanent status in my world of spring rolls.

The rice was a new recipe I have wanted to try forever and it was delicious. I sprinkled toasted coconut on top.

Spring Rolls

I fell in love with making these in Portland after seeing a cooking demo with the amazing Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Basically, any ingredients can be added but the foundation should be something crunchy (nuts, seeds, etc.), something chewy or soft (tofu, potato, avocado, etc.), and anything else that sounds good and will fit in the papers!


For this batch, I used smoked tofu (I baked it in the oven for a few minutes to make it hot), sliced avocado and red pepper, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, and sprinkles of vegan parm. I normally like to throw in baby spinach, but was out. I have found that after making these at home, I never order them from restaurants anymore. Restaurants simply add carrots, lettuce, and mint. In my world of adventurous Spring Roll creation, that is just boring! The sauce is super simple and goes well with any combination of ingredients I have ever tried. I also like to add Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce to mine to give it a little bite.


The wrapper is Rice Paper (made from tapioca flour, not rice!). The key is to get a large bowl filled with hot water(hot but not too hot that you can't stick your hands in!). Drop a rice paper in and let it get all soft and gel-like. Isa compared them to jelly fish and the resemblance is definitely there. When it is completely soft, take it out, shake the extra water off, and lay it flat. Put the ingredients in the center of the paper but don't overfill!!! Fold two parallel sides together and roll from the other side. I usually have to make about 6 of them to start because they are so delicious and if you just make one at a time, you will be annoyed with yourself! If you are making these for guests, it is fun to set up "buffet style" and let people make their own. Lots of fun!

Charred Eggplant and Coconut Curry

Although this recipe took about 2 hours to make, it was really good. Lots of leftovers, great flavor, and new spices I had never tried before. I substituted safflower oil for canola and added a carrot. Before I added the spices to the food processor for the paste, I toasted them on the stove. We ate the curry with basmati rice on the side. I didn't take a picture. I think it smelled so good, I was really hungry, and there was so much that I figured I would take a shot of left-overs, but never did. And the really unfortunate part is that I probably won't make this again, at least not for a long time because of how long it took! So, I think for now, if you want to see it you will have to make it yourself!!!

Pad Thai

I love Pad Thai but have never been able to capture the sweet, but tangy, even a little spicy flavor that it has served at a restaurant. This recipe, from Vegan Bites was tasty, even tastier as it got cold, but still wasn't quite as good as ordered from say, Ta Ra Rin! I know, that is a lot to compete with. I used whole wheat spaghetti from Garden Time Organics to "healthy" it up a bit.
6 oz whole grain spaghetti
2 Tbsp lime juice
4 tsp sugar (I used sucanat)
4 tsp tamari
4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil (separated)
1 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup mung bean sprouts
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 Tbsp fresh garlic
1 Tbsp fresh ginger
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp peanuts
1/2 lime, cut into wedges
Cook the spaghetti, set aside. Mix lime juice, sugar, tamari, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, water and pepper flakes. Set aside. Heat remaining toasted sesame oil. Add carrots and mung bean sprouts. Cook 2 minutes. Add onions, garlic, and ginger; cook 1 minute. Add spaghetti, sauce, cilantro and cook 1 or 2 minutes. Top with peanuts, serve with lime wedges.