Indian tweaked Thai Red Curry

Wow!! it feels to wow blog again. It has been nearly a year and lots of things have happened. Hubby dear decided to pursue his b-school dreams and before we could realise we have relocated all the way from Hyderabad to North Carolina.

Though the change was not a shocker, it was hell a lot of work. I pounced upon this chance to take a break from work and I do not regret a bit about the decision. Durham is a nice little place and with universities around, its bustling with activities.I hope to have lots and lots of fun for the next 20 months

Ok coming back to our thai curry, it was a weekend and we both were as usual lazing around and before we could realise it was lunchtime and the fridge was devoid of any vegetables except for frozen stuff. Hmm…did i see a can of coconut milk in the pantry?? After Amit’s approval for rice and thai curry, I got into business with my first attempt at thai cuisine.

Rice & warm red curry sauce

Well, I have always read about homemade thai curry paste , but then my pantry did not have the authentic ingredients like galangal, lemongrass etc., so I decided to tweak it with some Indian touch…so voila!! here is the recipe and it sure did turn out delicious that we devoured bowlfuls of rice with this awesome stuff.

Ingredients

For Thai Red curry paste with Indian touch!!

Red Onion – 1 medium sized

Garlic – 2 pods

Ginger – 1 inch long

Red Chillies – 5-7 depending on your spice level

Coriander powder – 3 heaped teaspoons

Black peppercorns – 2-3

Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

For Thai Curry

Frozen Veg – 1 cup ( I used the summer blend with squash, carrots & string beans)

Tofu – a pack

Coconut milk – 2 cups

Method

First I prepared the Thai curry paste. Heat up a teaspoon of oil in a wok and toast the cumin seeds,peppercorns, garlic,ginger and the red chillies. Add the cut onions, sprinkle a little salt and cook them till the onions get little tender and change to a pink color. Once the onions are done, switch off the stove and add the coriander powder, give it a mix and leave it to cool down before pureeing them in a blender. It is important to cool them, else the flavour would not be the same.

When the toasted ingredients are cooling, heat little oil in a shallow pan and roast the tofu.Once it is nicely browned on both the sides, cube them and keep aside.

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a wok, when its hot, add the blended red curry paste, saute for a minute and add all frozen vegetables. Give a good mix , cover the wok and let the vegetables cook for a couple of minutes until they are tender.Now add the browned tofu cubes and the 2 cups of coconut milk, season with salt , cover and cook till the gravy comes to a boil.

Its done….thai red curry was awesome!!!

Lauki Koftas in yoghurt sauce

Thanks to all my friends who have encouraged me through their comments. There are also some specific demands , some are asking for south indian recipes while some want me to post north indain dishes. Will definitely post both, my main aim is to bring back the recipes which have almost gone extinct, whether its north or south doe not really matter. And I have my mom and my mom-in-law , great source for both kind of cuisines, so there is lot of fun in store

I feel that thinking of what to cook is more tougher than actual cooking, because you need to have all the ingredients in your pantry and then it HAS to be tasty, also something which is healthy.Yesterday morning sipping my morning tea i opened my fridge and just stood there thinking hard what to pack for lunch…..all i could find there was a 4 inch long piece of lauki , some tomatoes , a bell pepper. I could have easily made aloo tomato….but then it was all carbs and i HATE potatoes….somehow they do not come under my healthy veggies list….i do not take them out unless it is a emergency code-red situation. There was also a big bowl of homemade yoghurt , so then i thought of this nice exotic dish…..exotic by taste and name, but very simple preparation.I got introduced to this dish through one of my rajasthani friend and i modified it a little bit to suit my preference. From then on i never miss a chance to make these and each and every time(note…each time) AJ says “The koftas were really yummy…very nice”And for my friends who wanted a north indian dish…….here it is

Ingredients :

Grated Lauki/Bottleguord – 1 cup

Besan – couple of spoons to bind the koftas

Youghurt -1.5 cups

Cashewnut powder – 2 tsp (optional)

Onion – 1 medium finely chopped

Green chillies – 2 chopped

Coriander powder – 2 tbsp

Chilli powder and salt to taste

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Oil for deep frying

Method

To prepare Koftas

Mix the luaki grating with little salt and keep it aside for 5 mins. Now sqeeze out as much water as you can out of the lauki and mix it with little besan and chilli powder. Do not add too much of besan , otherwise you koftas will turn like pakoras , the quantity should be just enought to bind the koftas and to absorb the little moisture it has.

Now heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the koftas to golden brown. If the water has been sqeezed out properly your koftas will not absorb much of oil.Keep aside the koftas in a tissue or kitchen towel to drain the excess oil

To prepare the sauce

1. Add a spoonful of oil in a skillet and splutter the mustard and cumin seeds.Now add green chillies and onions with little salt.

2.Once the onion get cooked , whisk up the yoghurt nicely with some coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and add it to the skillet. Keep stirring frequently so that the yoghurt does not fall apart.Let it simmer for around 5 mins

3.Now add the powdered cashews and then bring it to a boil and switch it off. The cashew powder just thickens sauce a bit and you can completely do away with them.

In a serving bowl, place the koftas and pour this youghurt sauce over them and garnish with coriander leaves. serve them after 10 mins so that the koftas are soaked in the sauce. This tastes simply superb with chapathis that you will end up licking your fingers

Starting trouble

Well….today was not actually a great day….it was too blue and dull….early morn in my half sleep i was thinking of lot of things which never lead me anywhere….the day is still dull….boring…..hundred times i have thought about writing a blog and have dismissed it

for the 101th time again i thought about and why not give it a try…..so here I am having the strating trouble of what to post….hmm….should i start with a discussion of a devotional song that would bless my blog with lots of readers which the internet cant achieve or should i talk about the great Indian nation like a true patriot or the male chauvinism or what it is??

finally i thought let me just state my blog again….itsgreen….go make the world green as much as u can….not with envy but with lot of plants , shrubs, trees…..

go green…..thats it….will make a better post when I am in a more bright mode…