Thai Eggplant Coconut Curry

         So when I cook I don't normally follow recipes per say. I tend to look at multiple recipes and combine them to my liking and also to whatever is available in my kitchen already.

In this case I was inspired by these recipes:

• Spices that go well with Eggplant
• Thai Eggplant Curry

And so I sorta just used what I had already had and concocted this....

Thai Eggplant Coconut Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 Can of coconut milk (I ended up using coconut cream - the curry comes out thicker)
• About 6 Thai eggplants
• 1 potato
• 1 Onion
• 2 fresh chillies
• 2-4 dried red chillies 
• Shrimp paste
• 2-5 cloves of garlic (We REALLY love Garlic hehe)
• 1/2 Tbsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• Fresh Ginger
• Brown sugar
• Soy sauce
• Fresh basil (optional)
• White pepper (black is ok too...)

Things I left out because I didn't have any...(BUT if you can I would highly recommend putting these ingredients in!)

• lemongrass
• kaffir lime leaves
• bay leaves (optional)

And I just used a medium sized non stick pot.

Preparation:

Chopped up the eggplants into quarters and do the same for the potatoes. I made them smaller so they would cook faster (just depends on how you like your potatoes). 

Chop up the onion, garlic, basil (if you're using it) and set aside. Grind up the ginger...I used a mortar and pestle to smash it all up. About 1/2 tbsp worth of smashed up ginger. 

COMMENCE the COOKING! 

Heat the stove on medium and place some oil in the pot, stir fry the garlic, onions, ginger, and dried chilies (crumble it into the pot). (if using the lemon grass/bay leave (aka curry leaves)/kaffir leaves throw them in now....)

Let brown for a bit and then throw in to your liking the amount of shrimp paste. I used about...1tbsp? I really like that stuff hehe. Stir make sure nothing sticks/burns.

Eventually throw in the potato let that brown for a bit. And throw in the eggplant soon after. (potato takes longer cook) so I prefer to let it cook a bit before throwing in the eggplant.

MAKE sure to STIR!!

Now throw in all the other spices! Turmeric, fresh chilies chopped up, coriander, cumin, pinch of sugar...maybe 2..., some soy sauce...i sorta just drizzled it in...as long as its not too much and ahh yes pepper.

Saute for a bit...if it starts to burn turn down the heat or add a dash of water so the bottom stick.

Now add the coconut milk! I recommend about 1 can? But I used coconut CREAM so its more concentrated so I only used maybe...1/2 the can? Its up to you. I'm not the type that measures....I just sorta go by the taste and eye...when I cook...so I'm terrible of telling people measurements...which is also why I don't bake... >O< 

Pretty much done. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then simmer till the eggplant is soft to your liking.
Once again...its up to you! I let it simmer for a bit..10-15 minutes to let the flavor set in.

Enjoy!! By itself or with some rice/bread whatever its up to you. I just eat it by itself but whatever floats your boat! :) Please let me know how yours turns out and if you did yours different how that turn out! 

-Karie

First Recipe Post! Zucchini Pasta with an Asian twist

       

So my friend told me about making pasta with zucchini. I mean I've made spaghetti squash before but zucchini? Well turns out its a thing! XD I didn't know...so I tried it out! I've also been on the South Beach + Juicing diet. Trying to start a new healthy lifestyle and stop consuming bad starch bad carbs.

So for all you people who want to cut down on carbs, but still love pasta! This is a great alternative! I seriously I had no idea I was eating a ton of veggies...I mean...it felt like a salad combined with pasta...kinda taste/feel in my mouth. XD You just gotta try it out! It's awesome really!

Used a veggie peeler. Quite simple really.

So I used a veggie peeler. Most blogs/recipes said to use a mandolin or some other fancy device I do not own. We don't even got a grater. >O< I know. Asian household ok...we just chop everything haha

SoOooo I used a peeler and it worked great! I mean I didn't get Angel hair thin noodles but it did the job. Plus I don't think I would have liked it so thin...feels like it would get mushy. This was a good size. Flat noodle style. If you ever had Asian flat noodles you know what I'm talking about.

Ingredients

• 2-3 Zucchini (I used green and yellow orange ones)
• Extra virgin olive oil (or any other kind of healthy oil...Grapeseed oil, Coconut oil to give different aroma)
• Cloves of garlic
• Red bell pepper
• Broccoli
• Shitake mushrooms
• Some shredded white chicken breast
• Half an onion
• Chinese Cooking Wine
• Any kind of soy sauce (there are healthier choices but I just used regular)
• Himalayan salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic Chilli powder
• Dill (optional)
• Parmasean cheese (optional)

Prepping: 10-15mins

Clean all vegetables and ingredients you plan on using. Take the zucchini and use the peeler like as if you were peeling the skin off. You'll get small to medium sized strips. That's perfect for me. If you like smaller strands for your "pasta" size then try using some other kitchen tool? I want to try using a grater the next time I try this out again. Everything else cut it as you like.

I also used a Roast chicken and stripped shreds of white meat from it to use in the stir fry.

Set aside all the chopped up veggies and have your spices near you to start cooking!

Disclaimer: I'm the kinda cook that doesn't normally follow recipes and cooks on my own whim...soOoo the instructions I'm about to give is simple but also totally on whim/instinct but it came out DELICIOUS which is how my random concoctions turn out anyways.

Cooking: Pretty fast 10mins if not less XD

First heat your pan on a medium heat pour in some olive oil (you don't want to overheat your oil its bad for your olive oil you lose a lot of good properties) Throw in your chopped onion and sliced garlic cloves. Let is simmer cook for about 1 minute or until it gets fragrant. I like to really "fry" my garlic so I leave it in a bit longer before I throw in other stuff. I also like throw some pepper and salt in that and let is flavor the garlic/onion.

Then proceed to throw in all your veggies you wanna use. Totally optional and however you want. I did mine with an Asian flare. Broccoli first because it takes longer to cook. And eventually threw in the bell pepper and mushrooms after. I use this Chinese cooking wine (its not that expensive you should be able to find it at the local Asian grocery store) So what a lot of Asian dishes get that lovely aroma you eat from home cooking or some legit Chinese restaurents. IT'S THIS! I'm telling you this stuff is the SHIT Lol. So toss some over the veggies let it sizzle and cover it with a lid so it steams the broccoli a bit. Then throw in the rest of your veggies (NOT YOUR ZUCCHINI PASTA We're gonna save that for the end) So for taste I used any soy sauce just a few dashes (you dont want to drown the freshness with soy sauce)

So cook until you how you like it. I like it with a crunch so after less than 10mins i turn the heat off. Then I took a separate pan (so not to tangent tooo much, my parents are vegetarian so I was cooking for them and me. So for the chicken I cooked separately for this reason) I heat the pan on medium to low heat with rosemary olive oil this time (I love the taste with the chicken breast) tossed in the chicken let it start to sizzle a bit and then threw in my zucchini pasta shreds! Threw some dill on top to add some extra flavor.

Then i mixed the in the veggies stir fry into that and topped that with some garlic chilli powder for spice/kick.

and done! Cooking the zucchini pasta for less than 5minutes. You don't want it to get mushy. If you don't mind the crunch then you dont even have to cook it. Just make your stir fry and throw it on top of your bed of zucchini "pasta" and the heat from the stir fry should soften it a tiny bit.

I topped it with some Parmesan cheese (after several posts you will see I basically throw cheese in like everything....) >O< I love fusing cuisines. Hehe Enjoy! Please post/comments on your results! I love to hear other peoples versions of zucchini pasta!

-Karie

First Entry:

She's My New Favorite Character on Facebook stickers.

That is how I feel for this week. DETERMINED! I'm not quite sure how or what I want to be posting for sure. But I know its gonna be involving recipes food blogging and things involving Photography.

I'm a huge Photo Nerd and proud of it. So this is really just for me to keep track of my photo nerdy loving things and also so I can start some posting some of my Food photography.

~ Karie