Thai Mushroom Curry &Vegetable Satay

 















Our recent food expeditions have made me a fan of several International food varieties like Thai and Chinese...So what will I do next?...Get all the Thai curry paste and Chinese ingredients... and obviously get one good Thai & Chinese cook book too!Amazing collection indeed....As a continuation of the 'Dragon Effect' I made this Thai Mushroom curry and Vegetable'Satay'!Thai and Singaporean preparations do have Keralite's signature ingredient,coconut milk in common...So I thought of starting with something familiar before exploring the alien!
Thai Mushroom Curry sounded very much like Malabar Ishtu...and it did taste too but of course Mushroom did make a difference, a welcome difference. Satay is originally from Indonesia, and they are in fact meat skewers...meat marinated with spices and grilled...for a change I thought of using vegetables.So here goes the recipe for both:
Thai Mushroom Curry:
Ingredients:
Serves-2
White/Brown Mushrooms-200g-cut into pieces
Shallots-10-chopped(I added one onion too)
Garlic cloves-6-7-chopped
Red chillies-4(seeded,sliced)( I used green chillies and did not seed it!)
Ground Pepper-1 tsp
Coconut Milk-1 cup(200 ml)
Oil-2 tbsp
Salt-as reqd
Coriander leaves-a bunch-chopped


Method:

Heat oil.Saute garlic and chillies till they give out a strong aroma.Add the shallots& onion.Saute till they become transluscent.Now add the mushrooms.Saute till they become soft for say 3 minutes.Add coconut milk.Boil rapidly and then reduce the flame.Add salt and pepper.Finally garnish with chopped coriander and serve it hot with any parathas,porotta,Chappathi or with steamed rice.
 













Vegetable Satay

As I said earlier Satay is basically done with meat...I have had too much of chicken and mutton of late...so I used vegetables...If it can taste so good with vegetables I'm sure it will be great with any othe meat variety.;)(if u r using meat u can use the same recipe for say 250g meat.

Here is the recipe:

Mushroom-100g
Potato-2
Onion-1 large
Orange Sweet Pepper-1 large
Star Fruit/ChathuraPuli-1(for a tangy bite)
Ginger Paste-1tsp
Lemon grass-1 stalk-chopped thin
Garlic cloves-3 chopped
Cumin powder-1tsp
Thai Curry Paste(Medium)-1 tbsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp
Coconut cream-3tbsp
Fish sauce-1tbsp
Sugar-1/2 tsp
Oil-for cooking
Skewers

Satay Sauce:
Coconut milk-1 cup
Thai Red curry paste-2tbsp
Peanut butter-50g
Vegetable stock-2tbsp
Brown sugar-1 tbsp
Tamarind juice-1tbsp
Fish sauce-1 tbsp
Salt-as reqd

Method:

Dice the vegetables into medium size pieces. Marinate it with ginger paste,lemon grass,garlic,medium curry paste,cumin,turmeric,coconut cream,fish sauce and sugar.Leave the marinade to seep thro for half an hour.Meanwhile make the sauce.Heat the coconut milk over a medium flame,add red curry paste,peanut butter, vegetable stock and sugar.Cool and keep stirring till it becomes really smooth,say for 5 minutes.Add the tamarind juice, fish sauce and salt.

Now thread the vegetables on to the skewers.Brush some oil and grill in a preheated grill for say 8 minutes,turning occasionally, until it is all golden brown.Serve with the satay sauce.Sorry,we were in a hurry to rush for a movie and I forgot to take the snap of my sauce before finishing it off!!...I can only say that it tasted great!