Vegetable Red Thai Curry

I always forget how good a home made Thai curry is, and when I get round to making one I just want it again and again! It really is a quick and easy meal to make and remember you can make the Thai curry paste in bulk as it keeps in the fridge for weeks!

Vegetable Red Thai Curry

Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

4 tablespoons Red Curry Paste (recipe below)

2 x 400ml can coconut milk

2 kaffir lime leaves

2 tablespoons soya sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

2 small sweet potatoes (cut into bite sized chunks)

200 grams cauliflower florets

1 tin chickpeas

2 large red chillies (sliced)

handful chopped corriander

handful fresh basil (torn)

Red Curry Paste (makes 120ml)

6 red chillies

2 chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 stalk lemon grass (chopped)

handful fresh coriander leaves

1 kaffir lime leaf

1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

Method:

1. To make the paste, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend to a smooth thick paste

2. Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan.

3. Add 4 tablespoons of the red curry paste and heat over a low flame for 2 minutes

4. Add half of the coconut milk and bring to the simmer. Add the remaining milk, potatoes, cauliflower, chickpeas, lime leaf, soya sauce and sugar.

5. Cook over a medium heat for around 15-20 minutes or until all vegetable are tender.

6. Transfer the curry into serving bowls and top with the chopped coriander, basil and red chilli.

Serve with jasmine rice

Enjoy.

Miso Grilled Tofu / Wasabi Salad

After trying the wasabi chickpea salad featured on Vegan Yum Yum's blog I fell in love with wasabi chickpeas, however I found there were too many ingredients in the salad for my taste buds liking.

So, here is my stripped down version which I served with miso grilled tofu.

Miso Grilled Tofu w. Wasabi Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

Wasabi Chickpeas:

1 400 gram tin chickpeas

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1 heaped teaspoon wasabi powder

1 teaspoon white sugar

Miso Tofu:

400 grams firm tofu cut into 4 pieces

8 tablespoons Japanese Mirin

1 heaped table spoon miso paste

2 teaspoons white sugar

Salad:

4 large handfuls salad leaves of your choice

1 ripe avocado (cut into chunks)

20 cherry tomatoes (halved)

3 small spring onions (finely sliced)

1 red chilli (de-seeded and finely chopped)

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon soya sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Method

First start with the wasabi chickpeas:

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Heat one tablespoon of sunflower oil in a pan and add the chickpeas.

2. Once the chickpeas start to brown slightly, add the soya sauce, wasabi powder and sugar, mix well and cook for another minute or two. Set aside.

Next make the miso marinade for the tofu:

3. Place the mirin in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the miso paste and sugar and stir until dissolved.

4. Marinate the tofu pieces and set aside ready to grill later.

5. In a salad bowl, combine the salad leaves, avocado, tomatoes, spring onions and chilli.

6. Dress with the soya sauce and sesame oil and season with salt and pepper.

7. Mix through the sesame seeds and chickpeas.

8. Place a griddle pan oven a medium to high heat and sprinkle with sesame oil. Once the pan is hot add the tofu pieces and grill on all sides for a couple of minutes.

Serve with the prepared salad.

Enjoy

Bank Holiday Beanie Burger

The weather this bank holiday was not the best, so think I can forgive myself for having a stay at home weekend!

But it's not like I was just lazing about watching the Telly. It was quite a productive weekend with regards to my up-cycling project.

First coat of paint. Done.

So, after working up a bit of an appetite, I decided to make bean burgers and served it with;

quinoa salad

avocado and tomato salsa

spicy sweet potato wedges

home made hummus

Beanie Burgers

makes 4

Ingredients:

1 400 gram tin chickpeas

1 400 gram tin borlotti beans

half an red onion (finely grated)

1 clove of crushed garlic

1 red chilli (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

large handful fresh coriander (chopped)

3 tablespoons olive oil

6 table spoons gram flour

8 table spoons sesame seeds

Method

1. Drain the chickpeas, place in pan and boil for 15 minutes

2. Drain the borlotti beans and place into a mixing bowl.

3. Whilst the chickpeas are boiling, place the grated onion, garlic, chilli, spices, seasoning, chopped coriander and 1 table spoon of olive oil into a separate bowl and mix thoroughly.

4. After 15 minutes remove the chickpeas from the heat, drain and add to borlotti beans. Mash until fairly smooth. (Don't worry if a few lumps remain)

5. Add, the mashed beans to the other ingredients, along with the gram flour and stir until evenly mixed.

6. Mould the mixture into four equally sized burgers and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

7. After 30 minutes remove the burgers from the fridge, pat with a small amount of gram flour and press 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds into each side.

8. Place a griddle pan over a medium flame. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan, once hot place the burgers into the pan and cook until slightly brown on each side.

Enjoy