Thai Beef Salad

A new box of produce has arrived! :) This is a really staggeringly tasty set of veges. Tiny perfect eggplants, more persimmons, a secret bag of snow peas that taste so sweet and fresh that we are just eating them straight out of the bag. I love little bananas too. They're the perfect snack as you walk through the kitchen. However, the king of the box this week was the massive haul of basil.


I bow down to thee

It is the Easter long weekend in Australia. It is autumn, not spring, so a great time for reflection, taking stock and catching up on sleep. My darling hubbie made us Thai Beef Salad for dinner which was simultaneously comforting, spicy and refreshing. This is Brisbane eating. This is how we live.

The recipe is from here. We make it with more of the sauce than it recommends.


What a great way to enjoy cos lettuce, limes, ginger, garlic and about 1/2 of the massive bunch of basil we got.


We added pad thai noodles at the bottom. Just for fun. We forgot to add heirloom tomato! What a pair of duffers. :)


What really made me appreciate my life today was that this was our first time being 'City Cousins'. It is our pleasure to offer a safe space for the neighborhood drop-offs. But, what a lovely surprise to find this card tucked away amongst the boxes, welcoming us to our new role. Awwwww! What a great community feeling. Thanks Jeanne and Barry! :)

Eggplant, Mushroom & Pumpkin Thai Curry

The next challenge is: eggplant! Tonight my booful husband Morgan made thai curry.

Ingredients
1 onion finely chopped
3 baby eggplant cut in slices
2 small sweet potatoes diced
1/4 butternut pumpkin diced
4 swiss brown mushrooms sliced
Marinated tofu
1 can coconut milk
Green curry paste (from a jar)
Fish sauce
Fresh coriander
Lime juice

Method

Salt the eggplant and leave to drain out the yucky bitter juices. At the same time put pumpkin and sweet potato chunks into a moderate oven for 1/2 hr.

Update: Apparently fresh, small eggplants don't need to be salted--thanks to my readers for pointing this out. I guess living for so long with old, stale supermarket produce has affected the way I approach my veges.


Pre-dinner snacks of rice cakes, re-fried beans, (tin of re-fried beans mixed with sour cream, lime juice, garlic, jalapeno, pinch of cumin) and spouted mung beans.

Saute onion in some peanut oil. Add curry paste (plus extra red chillies if you wish) and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add eggplant (well-rinsed), mushrooms and coconut milk and bring to the boil (add a few kaffir lime leaves and a spoon of palm sugar if desired). Simmer for ten minutes. Add the roast veges, tofu and fish sauce and heat through.


Serve with fresh coriander on brown rice (we were lazy and used a microwave pouch).


Eggplant triumph! :)

Cleaning up the kitchen tonight I saw the empty bags from my tofu and rice and thought I'd share them. Anyone living in Brisbane can buy these at a local supermarket.


Soyco Tofu & microwavable brown rice. It's so easy to have these long-life items in the fridge and pantry to make week day meals a breeze.