College Student Cooking {Thai}

Dear Kate,

While I was out shopping this week, I browsed the aisles for some healthy, college friendly products.  I am thrilled that you are broadening your horizons with international foods and taking a liking to them.  There is a brand that is found mostly in health food stores like Sprouts called Tasty Bites.  Their products are mainly Indian and Thai flavors and they use real ingredients, no salt, MSG, preservatives, colors, ect.  Take a look sometime and try some of the products out.

The line I recommend is the simmer sauce.  With these, you use your own brown rice and fresh vegetables for incredibly frugal and nourishing meals.  A 7 oz pouch of simmer sauce is $1.69, the package says it serves 2, but I can easily stretch it to 3 or even 4 servings with vegetables.  There were 5 different sauce recipes available including; Pad Thai, Satay Partay, Good Korma, Tikka Masala and Rogan Josh.

Here is a recipe I have come up with, using what I have on hand.  You might just use 2 or 3 vegetables, or throw in a scrambled egg or chicken even. Broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, green beans, celery would all work good here.  You would most likely leave out the cilantro and look forward to having a refrigerator bigger than a nightstand one day.

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 small red bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup snow peas, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 pouch Satay Partay
1/2 cup water
3 green onions, finely sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups cooked rice noodles

Heat oil in pot, add pepper, carrots and snow peas.  Cook 7 minutes, until carrots are just tender.  Add salt, sauce, 1/2 cup water and noodles.  Simmer for 2 minutes. If the sauce has gotten too thick, add more water.  Mix in onions and cilantro, chopped peanuts would be nice too.  If you want to replace the noodles with rice, cook rice separately and serve up vegetables with sauce over the rice.

Links; Monday Mania, Happy Homemaker Monday, Menu Plan Monday

Saag

I know it doesn't look like anything spectacular, probably doesn't even sound remotely interesting to most of you. But if you have had the spinach based Indan curry “saag,” then you know it is worth gathering up a few more spices to create at home. I personally think saag is amazing, the flavors are well balanced, the texture is so creamy and what a nutritional punch! This recipe makes just less than 4 cups of curry. I, myself eat a full cup. That is ½ a pound of spinach!

A lot of foods I can create a recipe by just tasting them, not this one. The first time I had saag I didn't even know there was spinach in it! When I haven't got a clue I turn to allrecipes and recipezaar to get the low down on ingredients and techniques. I like these sites because they have a lot of varations of the same dish. Also, the recipes are rated with stars by people who have tried them along with reviews of how they may have changed the recipe to make it suit them. I take ideas from this one and that one, subsitute some of my healthy oils, sweeteners and whole grains and try it out.

Where do you go for recipes when you haven't got a clue?

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 bay leaves

6 cardamom pods

2 medium onions, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons grated ginger

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, ground

1 teaspoon coriander seed, ground

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more for heat)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 pound meat, cubed (chicken thighs, beef, lamb, venison)

½ cup plain whole milk yogurt

2 pounds fresh spinach, chopped (or frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed)

¼ teaspoon garam masala

Heat oil in a large pot or pressure cooker on medium-high. Place bay leaves, cardamom pods and onions in the pan, fry for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, cloves, cumin, coriander, salt, black and cayenne pepper, stir well. Then add the meat and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly incorporated the yogurt and add spinach handfuls at a time. Stir until spinach is completely wilted. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or pressure on high for 20 minutes, natural release. Remove lid and add the garam masala. Turn the heat to medium. Stir and cook another 5 minutes until most of the water in the spinach disappears and you have a thick, green sauce. Remove the whole spices (you may not be able to find all the cardamom pods which is okay, but at least remove the bay leaves) and serve with brown basmati rice and *garlic naan. To make this dish vegetarian-ish use less meat, paneer, or cubed red potatoes.

*For garlic naan I roll out 3 ounces of pizza dough, real thin. Then cook the dough on a 450 degree skillet and brush it with garlic oil. Not exactly naan but pretty darn good!

Vegetable Korma

Indian curries--Yummm. A curry is a loose term for vegetables and/or meat in a spiced vegetable-based sauce. Traditionally served with basmati rice and a flat bread called "naan." My first experience with this dish was in California, since then I have found that state has a lot of GREAT Indian food. This korma was inspired by a little restaurant in Ventura, CA called The Taj Cafe. It is creamy and sweet and so different than anything American. It is even better left over, when the flavors have time to marry and mellow. If you like some heat, which typically comes with Indian fare, add a sprinkle or two of cayenne. I leave it out so the kids will like it.


This recipe does not freeze well. The sauce separates, the vegetables get rubbery and the potatoes fall apart and are gritty. The vegetables are your choice, just leave out what you don't like, you could even add chicken if you desire. There is an Indian restaurant on Gilbert and Baseline called Guru Palace, it is one of my favorites. I have enjoyed every curry I have tried there except, ironically, their vegetable korma.


Want an easy, tasty naan recipe? I just use day old pizza dough. The slight sourness give the same effect as the yogurt in traditional naan. Roll it really thin, cook it on a 500 degree skillet on the stove top, 45 seconds per side and brush it with garlic butter. For the rice, I just put 1/4 cup of the korma sauce and salt with the rice and water as it cooks.


1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh green beans
1 cup chopped potatoes or cauliflower
1/2 cup green peas
1/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
1 teaspoon honey
salt to taste


Saute onion in oil and cook until tender. Mix in garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute. Stir in tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, 1 tsp. salt and cayenne if desired. Place mixture in blender, pour in water, blend until smooth. Pour sauce into a pressure cooker or stove top pot. Mix in carrots, potatoes, pepper and beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Or pressure on high for 4 minutes, natural release. Stir peas, raisins, nuts, cream and honey into the pot with the vegetables. Heat through. Season with salt to taste.

links; Whole Foods for the Holidays