This week's recipe is:
Vegetarian Curry
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This is a very basic vegetarian curry which is quick to cook and which doesn't require the usual long list of spices because I used a curry paste instead. Any type of curry paste will work but I chose to use Masaman curry paste because it was in our fridge and is a personal favorite of mine. Btw, if you are ever on the Southern Thai island of Koh Lanta you must make a trip to the Funky Fish restaurant where they make divine Masaman Curry which sits on your table like an oriental night sky in a bowl. This recipe is very versatile so feel free to add or take out ingredients to match your palette.
Ingredients:
(serves 2)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of Masaman curry paste
2 cups of rice
1 or 2 cloves of garlic (minced or finely chopped)
1 medium/large onion (roughly chopped)
A handful of peanuts
A handful of soya meat
Half a courgette (roughly chopped)
Half a large carrot (roughly chopped)
A few mushrooms
1 bay leaf
Method:
Place a few tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and gently saute the garlic and onion for a few minutes. Add the vegetables, soya meat, and peanuts and saute for a further 5 minutes. Then add the curry paste and continue to saute again for a further 5 minutes. Add 2 or 3 cups of water, mix the ingredients together, add the bay leaf, and cover with a lid and cook on a low-ish heat for 20 minutes. Stir the contents occasionally.
For the rice (approx 2 cups) , add a dash of olive oil to a second pan and set the heat on low. Wash and dry the rice and gently saute the rice for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan until golden. In the meantime place 1 stock cube in a cup or thick glass, add boiling water, dissolve stock cube. Add the liquid to the pan with the rice in and add a further 3 cups of water to the rice, cover and cook for approx 15 minutes if using short or long grain white rice. If the rice shows signs of losing moisture in the cooking process then add more water. Plate up the food as you wish (I used wild garlic leaves as a plate dressing) and serve with plenty of water if it's a particularly spicy dish :-)
- There is no need to add seasoning to this dish because the stock will have enough salt in but you can add pepper and if you would like to spice the dish up then adding spices at the beginning when you saute the vegetables (before you add the curry paste) really brings out the intensity of the spice, such as hot pepper.
- When your dish is almost ready turn off the heat and let it cook for the remaining time in its own heat.
- This dish also works well with lentils (instead of rice).
Pimp it up:
- You could pimp this dish up by adding king prawns or meat instead of the soya but to really pimp up this dish I think you really need to go all the way and make it into a full blown Masaman curry dish (Google: 'Masaman curry recipe'). Masaman curry recipes call for (among other items) coconut milk and tamarind juice and these ingredients and more can be found in the very well stocked Thai food store on the right side of Ruska street, just after it merges from Francouzska street (Prague 2/10).
Hope it helps!
Dobrou chut!/Bon appetit!
Neville :-)
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