Creamy Lemon Thai Inspired Noodles

Some weeknights, you feel totally wiped just because it is the end of the week. All things considered it was not a bad week as things go. The weekend is not quite measuring up, the dad and the son are rather sick which does not make for fun.
The end of my weekend was a rather fascinating and unusual train encounter.

When you are a regular commuter you do learn to make the train your own space. I do this too, in fact there are certain things that I actually look forward to doing in the train, on most days it is a calm 35-40 minutes of uninterrupted time that I do not usually get other times of the day.
Anyhow this Friday evening, the train was exceptionally crowded, it was a smaller train and here I encounter a gentleman who was ready to unwind for the weekend on the front four seat booth. He was seated in one of the seats and had his book and bag on the seat that was right across him and had perched two cans of bear on the seat adjacent to him and was reading peacefully oblivious to the train beginning to fill up. Well, daunting as the thought was I moved in and informed him that I would be sitting on the fourth unoccupied seat. His look of welcome (not) was not going to make me travel stand on this lone Friday evening.
I returned amidst all the slush and wetness and after changing and my evening cup of tea, I faced my usual ritual of fixing dinner and scoping out the possibilities with the odds and ends in the refrigerator. This dish that I made to accompany the fish curry that I had waiting in the refrigerator was a winner. Rich, quick simple and comforting how can you go wrong?

Creamy Coconut Lemon Thai Inspired Noodles

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

4 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raw peanuts
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoons butter
4 cloves of garlic
2-3 green chilies, minced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sweet Thai soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha (chili garlic sauce)
3/4 cup light coconut milk
1 package fresh fettuccine pasta (the fresh does make a difference, I used basic Buitoni though)

1/2 cup finely chopped Bok Choi
1 lemon
1/2 cup minced cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the water and the salt to boil, while this is happening you can actually proceed with the chopping and prepping of ingredients.
2. Lightly roast the peanuts coarsely chop in a food processor or grinder and set aside.
3. Heat the oil and the butter and add the minced garlic using a garlic press. Working very quickly stir the garlic to brown lightly.
4. Add in the chilies and stir for 20 seconds.
5. Mix the fish sauce, sriracha and the sweet soy sauce together and add the the chili garlic mixture and cook for about a minutes.
6. Add in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer on low heat.
7. While the sauce is cooking add the pasta to the water and cook for about 3 minutes.
8. Drain the pasta and add to the coconut mixture and stir the Bok Choi.
9. Cut the lemon, remove the seeds and squeeze in the juice and mix well. Add in the cilantro and the crushed peanuts and serve immediately.

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Peanuts

Broiled Thai Red Curry Fish

I think something that I find very pai nful, is to go back to recipe notes and re-write it. In other words, if I can capture a recipe into words right away, it remains, if not it is usually  lost. The camera helps, I often go back to old picture and if and only if the recipe is worth it, I go back to the notes.

Well, this one certainly was in my opinion worthwhile, also I think it was about time to remember that I had the blog and actually get back to writing on it. Actually, I have been inundated with several things, and the classes have been keeping me busy.

Anyhow, this recipe first started out with a Thai red curry paste recipe, that I had adapted from this site. The paste stores well in the refridgerator for 2-3 weeks or more.

Thai Red Curry Paste

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Makes about 1/2 cup

Ingredients

1 medium red onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dried chopped lemon grass
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coariander seeds
2 tablespoons crushed palm sugar or jaggery
5 whole dried red chilies
1 lime

Method of Preparation

1. Place the onion, ginger, garlic, paprika, fish sauce, chopped lemon grass, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, palm sugar or jaggery in a blender.
2. Add in the whole dried red chilies. Cut in squeeze in the lime juice.
3. Blend the mixture until smooth, now, I should mention that the traditional texture for such a recipe should be a little grainy.

Broiled Thai Red Curry Fish

Prep Time: 45 minutes (mostly to marinate)
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

1.5 pounds of fish (I used steel head trout, in this recipe)
3-4 tablespoon red curry paste
1/3 cup coconut cream
3-4 kafir lime leaves
10-12 thai basil leaves
Extra lemon to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Prepare the fish into 4 pieces, rub with the thai curry paste and set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Place in a baking dish, brush generously with the coconut cream, mince the kafir lime leaves and scatter over the fish.
3. Broil the fish lightly for 6-7 minutes on each side.
4. Carefully place on a serving plate, garnish with the thai basil leaves and serve with lemon slices.

Actually one of the highlights of this summer was growing Thai Basil leaves, what an amazing powerhouse of flavor in just 3-4 small leaves. We enjoyed the fish as is, but it would be wonderful over jasmine rice.

Thai Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini

I love making Thai Green Curry paste, since it uses my two favorite herbs - Cilantro and Basil. Typically you should be using Holy basil also called Tulsi, but those leaves are much harder to come by, so I end up doing this with a very practical version usually readily available ingredient such as sweet basil and ginger instead of galangal. The results are quite acceptable. It makes for a quick and flavorful curry.



Green Curry Paste



Ingredients


1/3 cup fish sauce
1 lump size palm sugar
10 green chillies
2 tbsp freshly ground coriander
1 2-inch piece ginger or galangal
2 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped cilantro- leaves and stems
1 cup chopped basil
2-3 kafir lime leaves or 1 tsp grated lime zest

Method of Preparation

1. Dissolve the palm sugar in the fish sauce. This takes a little bit of time, so I actually do this first and then prep and chop the remaining ingredients.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients into a food processor.
3. Add in the fish sauce with sugar and process till smooth.

Green chicken curry with zucchini

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup green curry sauce
1/2 lb chicken cut into large chunks (boneless thighs work well for this recipe).
1 can light coconut milk
2 green zuchinis was and cut into a dice to match the chicken


Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the shallots with the green curry sauce and chicken and cook for about 10 minutes.
2. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add in the zucchini and cook for 5-7 more minutes.
4. Serve with white or brown jasmine rice.



Method of Preparation



1. Disolve the sugar in the fish sauce, this takes some time to dissolve so I actually leave this to soak while I prep the remaining ingredients.

2.