Date with Cooking

Thai curry is a bowl of creamy sauce of coconut milk with gently spiced curry paste, loaded with crunchy veggies and basil leaves that secretly add their flavor. Sounds appetizing, right?

Red Thai Curry with brown rice is a delicious, wholesome meal and is quite simple and quick to make.

The base for this recipe is the red curry paste, which I buy from the store. I have tried the Thai Kitchen and Maesri brands, and they both go really well for this recipe. Once you have the paste, all that you need to do is drop the veggies in the sauce and simmer it for 5-6 mins, and you have your soothing curry ready to go.

Try this flavorful and satisfying one-pot meal and I am sure it will go on your favorite and quick recipe list.

Ingredients

• 5-6tbsp, Thai red curry paste
• 1can, Coconut milk
• 2 tbsp, Peanut butter
• 4oz, Extra firm tofu
• 1 tbsp, Ginger & garlic paste
• 1 cup, Steamed broccoli florets
•  1 cup, Green bell pepper (sliced or cubed)
• 1/2 cup, Red bell pepper (sliced or cubed)
• 1/2 cup, Yellow bell pepper (sliced or cubed)
• 1/2 cup, Yellow onions (sliced or cubed)
• 1/2 cup, Green beans (cut into 1-inch sized pieces)
•  8-10, Sugar snap peas
• 8-10, Basil leaves
• 2 tbsp, Fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp, Brown sugar
• Salt
• Cayenne pepper – optional

Instructions

1. Prepare your tofu in the meantime before you start with the veggies. Wrap the tofu block in layers of kitchen towel and put a plate or cutting board on top of the wrapped tofu. Let it settle and drain water for 15-20 mins.
2. Steam all the veggies together. I like to steam the veggies and broccoli halfway, in a way that they are not too raw and not too cooked.
3. Blend together the coconut milk and peanut butter in a blender or you can also whisk them together.
4. Heat a wok or a pan and add the Thai red curry paste, ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute. Add the coconut milk and peanut butter mixture, and stir this mixture with the curry paste. Let it simmer while stirring and bring to a boil.
5. By this time your tofu must be firm, unwrap the tofu from the kitchen towel and cut it into cubes.
6. Add the steamed veggies, tofu cubes and basil leaves to the mixture and stir everything together. Add salt as per taste and cayenne pepper if you want the curry spicy.
7. Finally, add the brown sugar and lime juice and heat it through a couple of minutes. And you are done!
8. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, serve with brown or white rice. Enjoy!

You can also saute the veggies in 1tbsp of oil if you like. I like to steam my veggies, as this is a great way to keep them oil-free and maintain their tender color.

Do you have those baby carrots lying in your fridge that you don’t want to munch on? Well, here is a truly delicious salad with the goodness of carrots tossed with some greens.

I had a roasted carrot salad at a restaurant recently and just loved it. It was so good that next time I also took my husband, who is not a salad person at all and he loved it as well.

I always get baby carrots while grocery shopping with the goal that I will eat them raw but that bag mostly ends up lying in the fridge. So I decided to try and recreate this salad for dinner the other day and it turned out great. Since then I never have a left over bag of carrots now 🙂

Ingredients

Salad assembly

• 2 1/2 cup, baby carrots (or regular carrots, sliced)
• A handful, Arugula leaves
• 1/2 cup, Alfalfa sprouts
• Dried cranberries
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Feta cheese (optional)

Marinate/spice paste

• 2 cloves, garlic
• 1tbsp, cumin seeds
• 1tbsp, coriander seeds
• 1tsp, black peppercorns
• 1tbsp, maple syrup
• 1tbsp, lemon zest
• 2tbsp, melted coconut oil
• Sea salt

Dressing

• 2tpsb, Greek yogurt
• 4-5 strigs, Coriander leaves chopped
• 1tsp, minced garlic
• 1tsp, lemon juice
• 1pinch, ground black pepper
• Maple syrup (optional)
• Sea salt

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven at 350° F. Start with creating the marinate for the carrots. In a mortar, add garlic, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, lemon zest, sea salt and make a coarse paste. Then mix the coconut oil and maple syrup to this paste. You can use a blender if the mortar is not handy.
• Toss the baby carrots with this spice paste and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 – 35 mins.
• Combine together all the ingredients for the dressing and mix well.
• Once the baby carrots are roasted, lay them on a bed of arugula leaves and alfalfa sprouts, add the dressing and drizzle with some dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, nuts and serve while the carrots are warm.
• You can also roast the carrots ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator.

So why wait, turn that boring bag of carrots into a delicious meal tonight!