Vegetable Laksa

May this curry find its way into your happy little heart . . . and belly. It is definitely one of our new favorites! Will and I didn't quite bond with the rice noodles like we'd hoped (as seen in this photo), but we loved the Vegetable Laksa over brown rice. The next time I make this recipe my plan is to either use Singapore rice noodles, which are much thinner than these Pad Thai rice noodles, or cook the rice noodles longer so that they're softer—they were too stiff to enjoy in the same bite with the veggies and curry.

3/4 pound (350 grams) rice noodles, Singapore noodles, or brown rice, cooked according to package
2 tablespoons coconut oil
5 tablespoons Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
1 (14.5 oz.) can vegetable broth
3/4 cup carrots, sliced into batons
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup red bell pepper, sliced into strips
3/4 cup small zucchini, sliced into batons
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari*
Cilantro, chopped

1. Place coconut oil in frying pan and add curry. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
2. Add vegetable broth and carrots, and bring to a boil. Cover and let cook for 1minute.
3. Add coconut milk, zucchini, and red bell pepper, and cook until tender.
4. Remove from heat. Add soy sauce and cilantro.
5. Pour over noodles or rice and serve.

*If you are making this recipe gluten free, make sure you use gluten-free soy sauce.

Massaman Curry

Thanks to Kenny, one of my past authors who first introduced me to the unforgettable Massaman Curry at a small Thai place in American Fork, and even more thanks to Sam, my best friend, for passing on the actual recipe for Massaman Curry to make it for dinner any time we want. We love it!

 

Massaman Curry

2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons red curry paste
1 small piece ginger (approx. 3/4-inch thick), minced
3 tablespoons sucanat brown sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/3 cup organic peanut butter (or sun butter if you're allergic to nuts)
1/2 cup cubed sweet potatoes (the white ones)
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup fresh green beans
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
2 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Steamed brown rice

Optional:
1. Heat coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in curry paste and ginger. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.

2. Stir in sucanat, fish sauce, peanut or sun butter, sweet potato, carrots, green beans, and then the coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes. Add broccoli and cauliflower, and cook until tender, about 10 more minutes.

3. Add lime juice and cook for an additional 5 minutes before serving. Serve over brown rice.

Just a heads-up: If you make this recipe without the sweet potatoes, make sure you not only replace them with another veggie but add in some other extra veggies. The potatoes absorb some of the sauce, so when you nix the potatoes there's a lot more sauce than usual.

La arepa...both exotic and gluten-free

I was first introduced to the arepa 11 years ago when I moved to Venezuela. I lived there for a year, and from the time I arrived to the time I left I went from eating 1 of these bad boys a day to eating up to 3 or 4! It's an understatement to say I fell in love.

In the last few years I started making arepas a lot more frequently. When I became allergic to gluten 2 1/2 years ago, the arepa became an easy and safe go-to since it's made from corn flour. And my food-connoisseur of a husband has declared the arepa tasty enough to eat on a weekly basis, so after being married only 2 months I'd say we've had arepas 4 or 5 times for either lunch or dinner.

Where can you buy arepa mix? A local Latin market or even your local grocery store. I was pleasantly surprised to find some at Target!

What ingredients do you need to make an arepa? 
2 1/2 cups filtered water
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups harina P.A.N. arepa mix
1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil

What do you put inside an arepa?
Tuna mixture: tuna w/ chopped onions, tomatoes, and cilantro w/ a little garlic salt, mayo, and lettuce, spinach, or beet greens.
Tuna mixture: tuna w/ chopped kale and purple cabbage w/ a little garlic salt and mayo.
Replace mayo with veganaise, guacamole, or smashed plain avocado.
Organic nut butter and raw honey.
Other sandwich condiments of your choosing—some people love butter and cheese, others love a good ole turkey arepa w/ lettuce, tomato, and pickles.

How do you make an arepa? 
1. Pour water into a bowl and add salt.
2. Pour arepa mix into water and squish and knead together with your hand. (The water soaks in fairly quickly, so it's better to have the dough more wet than dry.)
3. Separate dough and form into 4 balls.
4. Then one at a time gently flatten the balls into your hand to form a patty, similar to forming a hamburger patty.
5. Warm some coconut oil or olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
5. Gently place the patties into the frying pan. Flip when golden brown.
6. Remove from heat when both sides are golden and let cool for a few minutes.
7. Using a knife, slice the arepa in half, forming a pocket. Sometimes the arepa separates completely, pulling apart and making it hard to keep it as a pocket, which is fine—it'll be more like a hamburger bun then with a top and a bottom. The dough on the inside of the arepa will be soft and sticky, so just in case you think it's not totally cooked, it is.
8. Add your choice of fillers.

I will always be grateful to Venezuela for introducing me to the deliciously wide-open world of arepas! Let me know what other great combinations you discover to put in your arepa.

Recipes Worth the Wait: Banana Oatmeal Smoothie and Roasted Veggie Burritos

It's been so long, where do I begin? Maybe with a recipe or two? That's easy enough and will quickly bring you into my new married life where I am feeding two instead of just one. Here are two of the hits so far:

Banana Oatmeal Smoothie
serves 2

1/4 cup nondairy milk (We've been using coconut milk.)
1/3 cup Greek yogurt (preferably honey flavored)
2 bananas
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
Dash of cinnamon and cardamom—we love cardamom!
2 cups ice cubes

Add ingredients to blender in the order listed. Use a turbo blender if you have one, as the ice can be hard on a standard blender. Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable and Black Bean Burritos
serves 12

I found this recipe (with slight changes) on tasty kitchen.com, and we loved it. The only thing is it ended up making enough for about 18 rather than 6. My guess is that our tortillas were smaller than what the original creator used and maybe my red onion and sweet potatoes were larger. Who knows, but I'm just warning you that you may end up with enough food to feed the neighborhood. I also changed the cooking times since the sweet potatoes were still crunchy for us.

2 orange sweet potatoes, diced
1 jalapeño, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed (or 2 cups black beans, soaked and cooked)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 cups shredded organic cheddar (optional)
2 packages Rudi's gluten-free tortillas or corn tortillas (or whole wheat tortillas if you eat gluten)
Extra olive oil or coconut oil for greasing
Aluminum foil, torn into individual pieces to wrap around each burrito

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place all chopped veggies in a 9 x 13 baking dish. In a small bowl combine spices and mix. Then sprinkle over veggies and stir to evenly distribute. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring half way through.

Add black beans, cilantro, and lime to veggies and stir. At this point you can store mixture in the refrigerator if you want to make the burritos later.

Lower oven heat to 375 degrees. Warm tortillas in a skillet or griddle, and place two large spoonfuls of veggies in each tortilla. Top with a handful of cheese. Wrap the tortilla burrito style so that all the goodies stay inside. Make sure not to add too many veggies or the tortilla won't stay closed. (If you're using corn tortillas, you'll probably only be able to fit one spoonful of veggies in the tortilla and will need to eat it taco style.) Place burritos seam side down on individual pieces of aluminum foil and wrap around burrito. Consider rubbing the foil with olive oil or coconut oil to keep the tortilla from sticking. Place burritos in a clean 9 x 13 pan or other baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes.

This recipe is great because you can wrap all the burritos, baking the ones you're going to eat right then and refrigerating the others you want to save for later.

Best Dinner Ever

 

I know Katie already posted about this but I thought I would share a picture of one of my favorite dinners and it was so easy! I baked red potatoes, carrots, purple and yellow onions, whole green onions, zucchini, sliced oranges, and pieces of fresh rosemary coated with olive oil and salt and pepper. It was served with roasted garlic and olive oil couscous.

Tonight I am going to get even more adventurous and use eggplant, anise (fennel), and yellow squash.