Lately, I have not been cooking much Indian food(although I've been given an awesome Indian cookbook for Diwali--could this be a hint?), Chinese or Thai-mostly because
1)3817's kitchen is open 24/7;
2) In the Bay Area, we've got such a huge prepondrance of great Chinese and Thai places close at hand.
But, like the cookbook freak that I am, I've got some really great vegetarian cookbooks for all these cuisines so I definitely want to expand my reportoire. Besides, considering the amount of time I spent watching Yan Can Cook and other chefs of Asian inspired cuisine(Ming Tsai), I gotta break out the wok and get my stir-fry on. (hmm, I think the Food Network needs a cool male South Asian chef. If he's eye candy, all the better. The current lone South Asian representative is alright..if you like that kinda thing (I'm looking at you, Ms. Lakshmi!). (oh wow, she's even got a cookbook with a wonderfully descriptive title out).
Um, anyways! This year, I was designated as the main cook for the family Diwali dinner. Usually we have chaat or or a big Indian type meal on Diwali, but I wanted to try something a lil bit different. I settled on Thai food as the Shahs and Khares of the Bay Area are big time spicy food eaters. In fact, I may be the wimpiest of the bunch (yes, even wimpier than my 7-year old cousin) who regularly eats Sriracha as an appetizer, not a condiment.
Most of my cookbooks including my favorite vegetarian Thai cookbook are still in storage, so I decided to do some digging around on the internet. I ended up pulling about 6 or 7 recipes, some of which aren't Thai, but actually Vietnamese. Here's the appetizers..I'll tackle the entrees next time.
Meing Com
I decided to start with Meing Com (lettuce wraps). I love the mix of tangy, sweet, salt, and tart as you pop a full wrap in your mouth and try to look dignified while your cheeks bulge like you've got lots of hubba bubba pieces stored up. Usually, it's just when I have the lettuce wrap in my mouth is when someone decides to ask me that all-important question. (The pot on the stove is burning, what should I do?)
**Note, the amount of each ingredient you need depends on how people fix their own wraps. To be safe, I chopped up extra of each of the ingredients because we like snacking in my house.
- 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce (I prefer this to iceberg)
- 1/2 cup toasted coconut slivers ( unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, ground
- 1/2 cup minced lime (pieces should include bits of peel)
- 1/2 cup diced fresh ginger or galanga root
- 1/2 cup tiny pieces of baked tofu or tempeh
- 1/2 cup diced green peppers
- Plum sauce (I used store bought)
Tofu and Veggie Satay
For my second appetizer, I went with Tofu and Veggie Satay. Now there are hundreds of variations on this one, but I decided to go simple and limit my vegetables to shitake mushrooms, red and yellow peppers, marinated tofu, and baby corn. I made a peanut sauce to go with this, as I find most store-bought peanut sauce very bland. The secret to my sauce? Copious amounts (I think I added about 5 tablespoons) of sweet chili sauce. DK was extremely sweet and threaded about 20 of these.
No real recipe here, you just need to cut up bite size pieces of your veggies and tofu and skewer your skewers. Roast at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Peanut Sauce (makes 1/2 cup)
- 4 ounces of freshly roasted (unsalted) peanuts.
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 ounce chopped onion
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (or to taste)
- 8 tablespoons coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons lime juice (to taste).
- 3 teaspoons brown sugar.
First grind or crush the peanuts to a fairly fine powder. Then combine them with the remaining ingredients (except the lime juice), to form a smooth sauce. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it with a little stock. Now add the lime juice, tasting as you progress to check the balance of flavors is correct.
Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad
My final appetizer was a cooling sweet and sour cucumber salad. Sorry, no picture here!
- 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large cucumber, about 12 oz.
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped red onion
- 3 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/3 cup chopped salted, dry-roasted peanuts, for garnish.
Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar and salt. When the syrup is clear and slightly thickened, after about 2 minutes, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Peel the cucumber (if the skin is tender and unwaxed you can opt to leave some or all of the skin on), and slice into rounds. Put the cucumber , the onion, the chopped cilantro and the cooled vinegar-syrup into a bowl and toss well. Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight to let flavors meld.
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