Thursday, October 9, 2008

Curry in a hurry

I had all these fabulous meals planned this week (thank you, Martha, for the lovely fall meal suggestions) but life happened, in the form of several fun evening outings, and the weather intervened as well, delivering 90 degree weather when all I want to think about is roasted veggies and scarves. Sigh.

What's a girl to do? Well, I made a 15 minute meal. I keep a little jar of red curry paste in the fridge at all times. As far as I know, the stuff lasts forever (if this isn't true, someone please let me know before I inadvertently poison someone) but I usually can't keep a jar around for more than a few months. Coconut milk is one of my random pantry staples, mostly for curry, but also for coconut rice pudding, which is to die for. You can use any protein you have on hand (or none at all) and I happened to have tofu. If D were home I probably would have opted for chicken, to be slightly more manly.

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Coconut milk, red curry paste, basil and tofu

All you have to do is open the coconut milk, dump it into a pot over medium heat, stir in a generous amount of red curry paste and add whatever veggies (frozen, in my case) or protein you have on hand. Cook gently until the veggies are done to your liking. Serve it over rice, or eat it as a soup. I had fresh basil from my little plant, so I added it in. Curry is one of those weird foods that is good with either basil or cilantro, and I don't really understand how that's possible.

I used light coconut milk, but I think it would be vastly improved (although fattier) if I'd had real coconut milk in my pantry. I think this every time I use light coconut milk, but then I never follow through. Note to self: Buy real coconut milk.

10 comments:

  1. It's so much fun to find another person who feels as if curry is a staple too :) Andrew and I think curry is a comfort food. I love it, with either light or regular coconut milk. Lots of veggies, some hot peppers, over rice! YUMMY!

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  2. This sounds like a perfect meal for when you're cooking just for yourself! I never feel like bothering with something fancy when the hubster's away, but scrambled eggs and toast gets old pretty quickly.

    And yes---I love the fresh flavours of cilantro and basil with a curry...the brightness of the flavours is such a lovely contrast to the smokiness of the spices!

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  3. this looks delicious. i'm always so impressed that when you have little time and it's above 90 degrees, you don't just opt for a bowl of cereal like i do!

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  4. i'd love to know the recipe for the coconut rice pudding - sounds yum!

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  5. I am always inspired by your taste buds here. The other night I made a moroccan dish with lamb, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, chickpeas, ginger and a carrot and it was so full of flavor, that I immediately thought of you. I adore anything with coconut and curry too.

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  6. This sounds like a perfect meal!I love anthing with coconut!

    Would you mind sharing your coconut rice pudding recipe?

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  7. I love curry and coconit milk too :) And what I love more is that you make cooking so easy (and realistic for the work week!)

    Have you tried Indonesian curry? It usually comes in this paste, and it is quite delish too.

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  8. Hey Rachel!!

    Thanks for the comments you are super sweet! That a relief to be done with all the planning. BTW.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE curry. There's a curry house in Pasadena, Hurry Curry, that we go to all the time that makes my belly 5x bigger. Its sad... but totally worth the extra hour on the eplitical. Hahah

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  9. Oh my yumminess! Thank you. I will try this ASAP.

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