Raptor's Game and the return of Salad King

One of my school mates has been dying to go to see basketball since he's from Vancouver and their team has been gone for over a decade. We finally got it organized (well i credit him) and went to see the Raps play the Bulls- it was a great game and we won!!!



This coincided with the re-opening of Salad King - so we went there for dinner before the game.

I got the tofu curry - i also got it a 5 for spiciness - it was pretty hot - but i managed thanks to water and plain rice. The guys beside me got a ten and a seven. I might try a seven with noodles next time.

Patrick got the veggie curry - mild.

We stopped by seven-eleven on the way to the game and i was fascinated by these

Thai Veggie Curry

Really haven't made this meal in a while, but i was trying to clean out the fridge as i am out of town hiding from all the G-20 crap that is going on in the city. I had a whole bunch of veggies i had picked up at T&T, and the best way to use them up - Curry!!!!

I won't be updating for a few days, but will have lot of meals to report on when i get back.

The Veggies

Cooking the veggies


The meal
(there is successful brown rice hiding in the red bowl
the curse may be over)

Indian Kiss

I am a huge fan of Curry Twist in the junction, but unfortunately it is closed on monday - which seems to be one of the days i crave curry or am feeling just plain lazy so sometimes i have to visit other restaurants in the area. On Keele street, just north of Dundas West there is a little strip mall, which has a restaurant called Indian Kiss. They only do take out, and have a awesome variety of veggie dishes.

Jarred's Jerk Pork Loin

Jarred didn't just step up for breakfast, but he also made a fabulous dinner featuring a jerk/curry pork loin. I assisted Jarred in the kitchen, making the salad, bruschetta (my personal fav), grilled veggies and of course some bbq'd corn.

The whole meal brought up the ways to bbq corn - the different methods and our memories of it. I personally like to bbq corn with the husk on. The key is to soak the corn so the husks don't burn and the water that is trapped in there will help steam it. I had always just used water, but when i was putting them in the containers Jarred added a teaspoon of SUGAR! I had never seen that before - can't say i noticed a massive change, but it was my first corn of the season.

Pork Loins on the grill

These were marinated for a few hours in a jerk sauce

The Spread

Salad and Corn

Grilled Veggies

Waiting for the grill

Corn - almost ready

Soaking Corn

Tofu and Shrimp Thai Curry

About six months ago i was on a crazy thai curry kick. I liked it in part because you could use so many vegetbales. At the time i used a President's Choice canned curry sauce that i liked, but then they changed it to a new jarred one that i didn't really enjoy as much. This led me to realize that i should probably learn how to make the sauce from scratch - it would be a lot healthier and i always like a cooking challenge.

I actually sort of invented my version of the recipe, so its not the most authentic thing, but it does have a lot of the ingredients you would expect in a thai curry. Once of my finds was purreed lemongrass, which is not always easy to find at any given time. Kafir lime though, that's another story, i think i've only used them once and really am not going to spend all the time sourcing it. For this recipe i did use some lime zest, which i think gives the recipe a nice freshness.

Sauce Ingredients:

Garlic
Ginger
Green Onions
Vietnamese chili
Green Curry Paste
Coconut Milk
Fish Sauce
Lime Zest
Cilantro

I did the usual - add a ton of veggies; mushrooms, carrots, onions, eggplant, bok choy, brocoli and green beans. For a little extra protein i added tofu and some shrimp that i had originally purchased to make a baked scampi which i haven't gotten around to yet.

One of the most exciting things about this meal is that i sucessfully made rice. It was white basmati, but i did not burn it. Take that starches!

Above:

Sorry about the different lighting - i've been swtiching things up in my kitchen, and apparently its made the lighting all odd

Curry (ignore my neighbour in the background)
Whole veggies
Cut veggies
Sauce ingredients
Sauce ingredients - herbs et al.

Double Duty - Hard boiled eggs

Sometimes on sunday i will hard-boil a few eggs for the week since you can use them in a lot of ways, they are a good source of protein, and they travel pretty well. It took me a little while to really master hardboiling eggs- there are so many different opinions on how its done. This is how i do it, but if you have your own method go ahead. The only thing i think is a universal rule - use older eggs.

I put the eggs in a heavy pot, just covering them with cold water. I cover partially and bring to a rolling boil, then drop the temp to low, cover and leave on the stove for 30 seconds. I then remove it from the heat and sit covered for 15 minutes. Then i remove them and put them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Once they were done, i made two different things with them. A curry egg salad sandwich and a spinach and hard-boiled egg for a work lunch. I only recently discovered i liked egg salad, as they only times i had tried it had been pure mayo and salt. Yuk. Plus the texture, it was so processed, i didn't even think it was eggs. I don't really follow the traditional egg salad rules, i make it a lot of different ways depending on what i have in the fridge or whether i'm serving it as a sandwich or on top of a salad.

Since i chopped carrots and green onion for the salad, i just diced them finer for the egg mixture. I usually use half as much yolk as whites. I start with just the yolk, mashing it with whatever i intend to use in the dressing; in this case, mayo, mustard, cracked pepper, curry powder and some red chili flakes. Once i had made a paste i added the chopped whites, mashing them just a little and i incorporated them. I then added the veggies for a bit of crunch.

Above:

Lunch is ready
Egg Salad Sandwich
Eggs in the ice bath
Yolk mixture
Ingredients for the egg salad

Butternut Squash Soup

As its gotten pretty cold again, i felt like something hearty and warm - and what better thing to make but soup. I had bought a butternut squash a few weeks ago, and those things never go bad so i knew i would eventually get to use it. This soup was a bit of a mish-mash as i just used some of the ingredients i had left over in the fridge; half a sweet potato, some shredded carrots and roasted a head of garlic. I thought i would make it a thai curry soup with some coconut milk and then part way through making it i realized that i wanted to add some peanut butter to it too. I generally don't use a recipe while making most soups unless its one i've never made before and is really specific.

Normally i would have roasted the vegetables, but after my oven-fire alarm incident yesterday i thought i would give my neighbours a break. I stared with sauteing the onions and carrots to soften them, adding the red thai curry paste cooking it till fragrant. I then added the squash and sweet potato, sauteing them a little while longer. I added the veggie stock (low sodium and organic of course) bringing it to a boil.

Once the veggies were soft i added the coconut milk. I actually use powdered coconut milk - i often find that the cans are not only high in fat its often too much and i end up wasting the rest of the can. I also added the roasted garlic and peanut butter a this point. When you're using peanut butter in a soup i have two hints - first use natural peanut butter, a lot of brands have icing sugar in them. Second mix the peanut butter with some of the coconut milk to make it easier to blend into the soup.

Then i used my immersion blender and blended the soup until smooth. You could also use a blender and do it in batches. I then heated it through again thoroughly.

Above:

Soup
Roasted garlic (yum)
Ingredients
Ingredients chopped
Cooking the veggies