Thai Curry Fried Rice | Rice Recipes

I have been spending quite a lot of time in Pinterest lately. Pinterest is a whole world of ideas and inspiration and is definitely addictive. It was one of those days when I was flipping through the pins and I stumbled upon a simple Thai curry rice recipe. I made a mental note on the idea and forgot about it. Fast forward few weeks, I was cleaning up my fridge door when I found this poor bottle Thai curry paste leftover after making Thai Style Mushroom Tofu Soup which was about to touch its expiration date. Without further thoughts I made this rice dish the same day for our lunch.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2-3
Rice - 1 cup (or) Leftover cooked rice (white or brown) - 3 cups
Shallots / Pearl onions - 1/4 cup, thinly sliced in rounds
Garlic - 2 cloves
Carrots - 2, medium, chopped
Beans - 10, chopped
Broccoli - 1/2 a floret
Tofu - 1/3 of a block (5 oz), crumbled
Thai Green Curry paste - 2 tbsp (store bought or home-made)
Soy Sauce - 3 tbsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Light olive oil (or) any light tasting oil - 2-3 Tbsp
Salt - to taste

Method:
Cook the rice with 2 cups of water. When done, spread in a plate to cool completely. Blanch the carrots, beans and broccoli for 4 minutes. Drain and plunge in ice water. After 5 minutes, drain excess water in a colander. Heat a cast iron skillet with oil and add thinly sliced shallots and minced garlic. Fry until the onions take a light shade of brown. Add the green curry paste, soy sauce and water. Fry in medium heat until most of the water evaporates. Add the cooked cooled rice and mix. Add the vegetables to the rice. Mix in low heat until completely mixed through. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot garnished with green onions.

Pad Thai Tofu Lettuce Wraps / Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps

Being an Indian, I love the other Asian cuisines very much since the complexity and levels of flavours are so similar in all of them. Grazing through my menu one could see that I love Thai food and tried quite a number of varieties. One of my favorite go-to dish in thai restaurants is Pad Thai (meaning "Fried, thai style"). While the authenticity of the origin of the dish is still in question, I do not mind where it originated given it being tasty. Another cuisine I love is the Chinese and the PF Chang's Tofu lettuce wraps is an inspiration for making this dish. This recipe is vegetarian and Vegan too.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2 as a meal; 4 as an appetizer
Firm Tofu - 1/2 block
Lettuce wraps - as needed (I used iceberg lettuce)
Peanuts - 3 tbsp
Scallions / Spring onion - cut on a bias - for garnish
Lemon juice - for garnish
Oil - 2 tbsp
For Tofu Marinade:
Low sodium Soy sauce - 3 tbsp
Agave syrup - 2 tbsp (see notes below)
Red pepper flakes - 1 tbsp
Grated ginger - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
For Sauce:
Tamarind extract -  3 tbsp (see notes below)
Agave syrup - 1 tbsp (see notes below)
Low Sodium Soy sauce - 2 tbsp
Red pepper flakes - 1 tbsp
Salt - as needed

Method:
Press the tofu and remove excess water. Cut into tiny pieces or into desired size. Mix the ingredients for marinade in a ziploc bag and put the cut tofu in the bag. Close the bag and mix well for the marinade to coat the tofu pieces. Store in the fridge until ready to use. Anywhere from 4 to 24 hours is good. 
Dry roast the peanuts until toasted. When done, allow to cool, remove skin and crush into little pieces. Mix the ingredients for sauce and do a taste check. Balance out the flavours according to your palate.
When ready, heat oil in a wide pan and add the marinated tofu. Let it sear for a couple of minutes in med-high heat and then toss. Allow it to sear for couple more minutes and then transfer to a plate. Add the sauce to the same pan and allow it to boil. Reduce the heat and add the tofu and mix. Remove from heat after about 3-5 minutes and garnish with crushed peanuts, lemon juice and spring onions. Serve over lettuce cups.
Notes:
1. I used big gooseberry sized tamarind to make the extract. If using ready to use tamarind paste, mix about 1 tsp of the extract with water to make 3 tbsp.
2. I have used salt very sparingly since the soy sauce already has salt.
3. I used agave nectar for a mellow sweetness. Feel free to substitute with brown sugar or honey. Increase the amount though, since agave is sweeter than sugar or honey.

Sending these beauties to PJ's Celebrate Women's day; Susan's MLLA#57; Taste of the Tropics - Ginger; Flavours of Cuisines - Chinese;

Thai Style Mushroom Tofu Soup | Soup Recipes

This Thai style soup is sure to fill your senses and appetite. This soup makes for a delicious dinner which has the goodness of all the vegetables and is light yet filling. I made this for dinner last week and totally enjoyed it. It reminded me of the Thai soup served at Noodles and Company. 
Looking for more Thai recipes? Check out my Garlic Basil Vegetable Fried Rice, Thai Red Curry and Thai Green Curry.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2
Preparation time - 10 mins; Cooking time - 20 mins.
Mushroom - 4 oz - about 1 cup sliced
Tofu - 4 oz - julienned
Bell peppers - julienned - 1 cup (I used a mix of green, red and yellow)
Zucchini - 1 small - sliced into half moons
Garlic clove - 1 - sliced thin
Ginger - sliced thin - few slivers
Chicken / Vegetable stock - 2 cups
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Thai Curry paste - 1 tbsp 
Light soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp
Salt & Pepper - to taste
Red pepper flakes - to taste

Method:
Heat a skillet and saute the mushrooms for a couple of minutes. Follow the same method for the zucchini and tofu. This step is completely optional though. Heat olive oil in a wide saucepan with the ginger and garlic. When the garlic is cooked add the thai curry paste and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and allow it to heat. Add the vegetables and tofu along with coconut milk and let it come to a boil in medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the soy sauce, salt and pepper. Remove from heat after 5 minutes and serve hot garnished with cilantro or basil.
Note:
1. Any type of vegetables can be added to this soup. Carrots, Beans, asparagus, snow peas, bamboo shoots, broccoli etc., are good additions.
2. Watch the amount of salt which goes in the soup since the stock and soy sauce already has salt in them.
3. Heat the oil along with ginger and garlic so as not to burn the garlic.

Sending this to Saras' Dish in 30 minutes - Soups & Salads event and to Pari's Only-Vegan event hosted by PJ. Also to Favorite Recipes - Non-Indian Food event by Satya.

Babycorn Satay with Peanut Sauce - Guest Post by Prathima of Prat's Corner

Prathima from Prats Corner is this month's guest host in my kitchen. Prats and I are real "virtual" friends. Though it may sound oxymoronic, it is a true statement. We got to know each other through the blogging world and Facebook and became good friends. Emails and chats kept us connected. I love her elegant blogspace and unique dishes. My favorite is the authentic Davanagare Benne Dosa. I completely adore her style of writing which makes her posts enduringly interesting. She recently celebrated 1,00,000 hits in her space. Prats Corner is not just recipes but also about her other interests. Her charcoal painting of her grandpa is just awesome. Here is Prats in her own words.

"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow, suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken" ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

Some people you meet in the journey called 'life', you will take a little while to get acquainted to. And then with some its an instant connection! You go on and on chatting with this newly met friend all about your past, your dreams maybe or your opinions and anything about you find interesting. And in the end you say it was like a reunion with an old friend!

I now know that distance cannot act as barrier between friendship, nor does difference in culture or language. This reminds me of my grandmother who by conversing in  Kannada and very few words of English thrown in between made good friendship with a German lady. And this lady simply adored my grandma! Essence of  a good friendship leans more towards feelings, emotions and the bond we share with the other person.

I have no idea what plays a role in this 'instant connection' between two strangers - is it the positive vibes or similar interests or fate?? Whatever the reason, this stranger is now your new found friend, a treasure worth cherishing for ever.

One such special person or my new found treasure in Krithi of Krithi`s Kitchen. She is friendly, a software engineer turned foodie with a fabulous food blog loaded with delicious, elegant, interesting recipes! Not to forget - she is also a good photographer!  She is someone I came in contact with through the food blogging world. She is someone I have not met personally and yet it does not seem that way! Just few casual messages exchanged and now she is a good friend of mine!

And I was truly delighted when I was asked to do a guest post on her blog - Krithi`s Kitchen. I picked a Thai starter recipe - Satay for this guest post which turned out to be delicious & more-ish!

What is a Satay?

Satay (pronounced - SAH-tay) is a popular South East Asian starter dish. Many articles on satay mention Indonesia as being the origin of satay. But it has now become popular in other South-Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and particularly Thailand. Thai cuisine being popular worldwide has led to considering this dish as originated from Thailand.

One or few main ingredients - be it vegetable chunks, tofu, meat, fish are seasoned and threaded onto satay sticks or bamboo skewers. They are then grilled or barbecued over a charcoal over wood fire. An authentic satay will have turmeric added to the marinade, giving it the characteristic yellow shade and will have a smoky flavor, the result of cooking over charcoal.

The difference between the satay recipes of these South East nations is mainly in the accompaniment served along with the barbecued ingredient and also in the way the vegetable/ meat is cut.

One popular accompaniment to the satay is the spicy peanut sauce served in Thailand. The sauce is generous in its spice level. Tang from the lemon and a hint of sweetness from palm sugar make this  a lip smacking dip!

In Singapore satay is sold in food courts, by street vendors and in upscale restaurants. The popular one here is the Chicken satay.

Different parts of Malaysia have their own versions of this popular appetizer. One popular veraion is the Sate Kajang where a sweet peanut sauce and some fried chilli paste is served along side with barbecued meat. Another version is the sate lok-lok from Penang where the dip is a sweet dark sauce or a chilli sauce. Sate celup is a verion where the satay is cooked in boiling peanut sauce.

The country where this popular appetizer originated - Indonesia, serves satay with soy based dip.  There are several versions of satay in this country. One popular one is the Sate Madura where meat is served with sweet soy sauce and eaten with rice or rice cakes wrapped with banana or coconut leaves. Such rice cakes are called ketupat. Few more accompaniments to other satay versions include - sambal (chilli paste), pineapple based satay sauce, sliced shallots or sliced fresh chillies.

Baby corn and vegetable satay on satay sticks :

Spicy, sweet peanut sauce with a hint of lemon :

BABY CORN SATAY Ethnicity : Thai / Course : starter Makes 12 pieces INGREDIENTS Baby corn – 12 whole pieces Onion – 1, medium Red capsicum – 1, medium Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp, to pan fry vegetables Satay sticks – 12+2 or as needed, soaked in water for 5 mins For Marinade : Soya sauce – 1 tbsp Lemon juice – 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste – 1.5 tsp Brown sugar – 1 tsp Honey – ½ tsp Salt – 1 tsp/ to taste For Peanut Sauce : Vegetable oil – 1 tbsp Onion – 1, small Ginger – ½ “ Garlic – 4 cloves Soya sauce – ¾ tbsp Peanuts/ groundnuts (without skin) – 6 tbsp Coconut milk – ¾ cup (tetra pack or fresh thin extract) Lemon juice – 1 tbsp Lemon rind – ½ tsp Red chilli powder – 1 tsp OR 1-2 chopped fresh red chilli Honey OR brown sugar – 1 tbsp For garnish – red chilli flakes (optional) METHOD Prepare the vegetables – Wash baby corn, cube onion and red capsicum. Blanch baby corns in salted boiling water for 2 mins OR pressure cook for up to 2-3 whistles (open lid when pressure drops). In a bowl combine the above vegetables, marinade ingredients. Toss. Set aside to marinade for 15 to 20 mins. Pierce all baby corns into satay sticks (1 per stick). Thread the other remaining vegetables between 2 to 3 separate sticks Heat oil in a grill pan/ griddle. Place the sticks with vegetables onto the griddle. Pour any excess marinade on top of vegetables. Cook the vegetables, turning sticks in between to cook the vegetables evenly on all sides. Cook till baby corn is brown and caramelized , onion-capsicum a bit charred on the edges. Remove and set aside. For the sauce –  Chop onion for the sauce. Chop ginger, garlic. Grind the peanuts to a coarse powder, then add 1-2 tsp water and grind to smooth paste. Extract coconut milk if using fresh. Heat oil in a pan, sauté onions till transparent. Add ginger, garlic, sauté for 1 min. Add soya sauce, peanut paste, 3 to 4 tbsp water and stir. Add coconut milk, salt, honey/ brown sugar, chilli powder, lemon rind. May stir with a whisk if peanuts form lumps. Stir and simmer for 10 mins. Lastly add lemon juice. Stir and remove sauce from heat. To serve – Arrange the vegetable satay on sticks on a serving plate. Serve the sweet, spicy, tangy, nutty peanut sauced on the side. May sprinkle with red chilli flakes if desired. Serve hot! NOTES 1. Instead of above vegetables, you could make satay from tofu, button mushrooms, paneer (cottage cheese), green, yellow and red capsicum. You could serve cubed cucumbers too but no need to marinade or grill them. Just thread cubed cucumber onto skewers and serve with the peanut sauce. 2. Instead of the above marinade, you could marinade the vegetable/tofu/mushroom/paneer with few tablespoons of the peanut sauce for 15 mins. Then grill as above. Serve hot with remaining peanut dip. 3. You could also add coconut milk made from coconut milk powder. 4. You could also serve this peanut sauce with boiled/teamed/grilled vegetables. 5. You may also add chopped lemongrass stalks along with coconut milk. Then reduce the amount of lemon juice.

Tofu Golden Triangles with Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce | Easy Tofu Recipes

We love to go to Asian restaurants. But whenever we go we have very few options for vegetarian appetizers. DH being a hard-core vegetarian, would mostly prefer to order this one next only to Spring Rolls. He is not a big fan of tofu and never like it when it is mild. But when it is made crunchy or spicy he is totally a different person and can't resist. I mostly grill or make Thai curry/Rice with Tofu. When I picked up tofu this time during my grocery shopping, DH was telling (more of complaining) that I never make his favorite appetizer. So one fine evening I surprised him my making his favorite tofu dish. It takes less time to put together this one. I am not kidding when I say it took less time for me to prepare this than to write this recipe.

Ingredients:
Setting time - 30 mins; Preparation time - 10 mins
Tofu - 1 Pack - Firm or Extra Firm
Oil - For deep frying
Salt - for seasoning
Method:
Drain the water in the tofu and dry excess water. Place the tofu wrapped up in a kitchen towel and place a heavy pan over it. In about 15-30 mins all the water would be absorbed in the kitchen towel. Cut the tofu into small pieces. Deep fry the tofu pieces in a oil heating over med-high heat. Fry until golden brown and drain in a tissue paper. When it is still hot sprinkle little salt over 
the tofu. Serve with Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce.
Note: Like any deep fried item, Tofu absorbs more oil if it has more water inside it. So try to get the water out as much as possible before frying.
Oven Bake Method:
Preheat the broiler. Place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and spray oil. Arrange the cut tofu pieces in the pan and broil for 12-15 minutes. Remove every 4 minutes and flip the pieces over. It only takes moments to go from baked to burnt when set in broil mode. So keep a watchful eye after 8 minutes.

Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
Preparation time - 5 mins
Red chilli paste - 1 tbsp plus more if you wish
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Water - 2 tbsp
Vinegar or Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Crushed peanuts - 1 tbsp (optional - I did not add)
Method:
Mix water and sugar until it is dissolved. Heat all the ingredients until warm. This enables better infusion of the flavors. Allow to cool and serve.

Sending this to 100 Day Global Food Festival event, CC-What's For Friday Dinner, Kid's Delight - Party and to Flavors of Indonesia event by Nayna.

Garlic Basil Vegetable Fried Rice - Thai Style

I believe my readers would very well know that I am a big fan of Thai Food. After the Thai Red Curry and Thai Green Curry, my next attempt is this Garlic and Basil Fried Rice. This is another favorite recipe in Thai cuisine - Kapow Jae meaning Thai basil with vegetables. I looovvvee Basil. The beautiful fragnance of Basil is simply divine. No wonder the holy basil or Tulsi is an offering made to Hindu gods. 

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups
Garlic cloves - 6 or 8 - minced
Basil leaves - 1/2 cup - tightly packed - thinly sliced
Dry Red chillies - 5 or Red pepper flakes - 1 1/2 tsp
Extra Firm Tofu - 1 block - pressed and cubed
Carrots - 2 - julienned
Red bell pepper - 1/2 - julienned
Green bell pepper - 1/2 - julienned
Soy sauce - 1/4 cup (I used Low-sodium variety)
Light brown sugar - 1/2 tsp
Sesame oil / Canola oil - 2 tbsp

Method:
Wash and soak the rice in water for 30 mins. Cook the rice with 4 cups of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and a drizzle of oil. When done, fluff it with a fork spread it on a baking sheet and allow it to cool. Saute the cubed tofu in a tsp of oil until light brown on all sides. In a wide pan, add the oil and garlic and heat in a medium flame. When it starts getting hot add the carrots, bell peppers and increase the heat to med-high. Saute well for 3 to 4 mins and add the basil leaves and red chilli flakes. Add the soy sauce, sugar and salt. Mix well and reduce the heat to medium. Add the cooked cooled rice, tofu and toss gently to mix well. Serve hot.
Note: You can add any vegetables of your choice. Take care while sauteing the garlic as it tends to burn very quickly.

Sending this Garlic Basil Fried rice to Herbs & Flowers - Garlic event by PJ and to Rice Recipes Event.

Thai Green Curry with Homemade Curry Paste/ Kaeng Khiao Wan

Green Curry is my second attempt on Thai food next to red curry. Referred as Kaeng (Gaeng) Khiao Wan, literally meaning sweet green curry, it gets its name from the color of the curry. The other predominant thai dishes are also referred by their colors red curry and yellow curry. I chose to make a vegetarian version of the curry by substituting soy sauce for traditionally used fish sauce. I also ignored sugar since I used store bought coconut milk can which was sweeter than the one prepared at home.

Ingredients:

Adapted from My delicious blog
Vegetables - Red bell pepper, green bell pepper, radish - cubed - each 1/2 cup
Carrot - sliced - 1/2 cup
Lemon grass - top portion - chopped into 2 " piece
Extra Firm Tofu - 1/2 block - 6 ozCoconut milk - 1 can - 300 ml

Water - 300 ml
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp (I used low-sodium variety)

Thai basil - 5-6 leaves
Salt - to taste - remember soy sauce may already contain salt

For the Green curry Paste:

Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp, dry roasted

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Lemon rind - from 1 lemon

Thai Green Chillies - 4 or 5 - deseeded

Pearl onions / Small shallots - 2

Garlic cloves - 2

Cilantro  - 4 twigs with stem

Thai Basil leaves - 1/2 cup - loosely packed

Lemon Grass - 1 - cleaned and chopped

Galangal/Ginger - chopped - 1 tbsp

Method:

Grind the ingredients under green curry paste to a not very fine paste. Cut the drained tofu into cubes and saute them in a tsp of oil. Drain in a paper towel to let it absorb extra oil. Add the coconut milk to a big saucepan and heat in medium flame. When it is just hot (not boiling) add the ground curry paste and mix once. Cook in low flame until the paste cooks, about 5 to 7 mins. Add the lemon grass and chopped vegetables and cook covered for about 5 to 10 mins, the vegetables should be half cooked, and still maintain the crunch to it. Add the water (based on the thickness required) and allow it to boil. Add soy sauce, salt and basil leaves. Remove from heat and serve hot with steamed rice.

Sending this to Bookmarked recipes - Every Tuesday event by Priya and Aipi and Hearth & Soul - Blog hop #47.

Also Sending this to Herbs & Flowers - Basil event by PJ.

And to Dish it Out - Tofu/Paneer and Bell Peppers event by Vardhini.

Thai Red Curry

Whenever we decide to go out for a formal-dining, we would first prefer Thai cuisine. I love Thai food for not only its similarities with Indian food but also the divergence of it. The array of colorful veggies and exotic coconut flavor is also a clearly scoring factor. Trying to search for recipe for Thai curry online, I landed on Aipi's USMasala. For this month's Tried & Tasted event the selected blog is Aipi's US Masala hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan. Aipi is one of my first blogger friends who used to visit my blog and give lovely comments. She has a very beautiful (colorful) space with lots of interesting recipes and I chose to try Thai Red Curry from her blog.

Ingredients:
For the Red Curry paste:
Shallots/Pearl onions - 2 small
Dried Red chillies - 7 (soak in 1/4 cup of warm water)
Galangal / Ginger - 1" chopped
Garlic - 4 big cloves
Lemon rinds - 1/2 tsp or Lime leaves - 1-2
Cilantro stems - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Roasted Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Paprika - 1/4 tsp
For the Curry:
Red curry paste
Coconut milk - 2 1/2 cups or 3/4 of a can
Water - 2 cups (If using canned coconut milk)
Snap peas - about 10 (Blanch for 3 mins and transfer to cold water)
Extra Firm Tofu - about 1 cup cubed - Saute in a tsp of oil
Bell pepper strips - 1/2 cup
String beans - 8-10 - cut in half and then length-wise
Cauliflower - 5 florets
Broccoli - 5 florets
Shallot/Pearl onions - 2 chopped
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Thai Basil leaves - 6-7 (or Basil leaves)
Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

Blend the ingredients under Red curry to a paste with little water.
Heat oil in a wide skillet and add the red curry paste and saute in medium heat. The paste should cook until oil separates. Add the coconut milk (and water if using) and stir for a while. Add in the soy sauce, salt, vegetables and tofu. Cook until the veggies are half-cooked but still maintain the crunch, approximately 5 mins in medium heat. Put the torn basil leaves and boil for about a minute. Garnish with more basil leaves and serve with steamed rice.

Sending this to 'Tried & Tasted' event by Lakshmi of Kitchen chronicles guest hosted my Priya of Mharo Rajasthan.

And to Dish it Out - Tofu/Paneer and Bell Peppers event by Vardhini.

Sakkarai Pongal / Sweet Pongal

I made Sakkarai Pongal in a traditional stove top method for Pongal. We loved it. The pongal has a light color due to the addition of milk in the pongal.

Ingredients:
Raw rice: 1 cup
Moong dhal - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 1/2 cups - tightly packed
Milk - 3 cups
Water - 3 cups + 3/4 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cashew - 5 or 6

Method:
Wash rice and dhal and soak in water for 30 mins. In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat 3 cups of milk with 3 cups of water and add the rice-dhal mixture.
Let it boil in medium flame until it is cooked and the rice looses its texture. Remove from heat. Meanwhile dissolve jaggery in 3/4 cups of water and filter if there are impurities. Heat this jaggery water in medium heat until it reaches a one-string consistency (when checked between thumb and forefinger a single thread is formed). Add the jaggery syrup to the cooked rice-dhal mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a small kadai, fry the cashews and add to the pongal. Adding ghee to the pongal at the end gives a nice aroma without needing to add too much of ghee to the sweet dishes. Serve hot.

I am sending this to Pongal Feast Event by Kurinji Kathambam.



I am also sending this to 'Delicious Desserts' event by 'What's Cooking Today!!'