Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Labbits Like: Eggplant Thai Curry



When the labbits get a nice, big, gorgeous eggplant, they tend to make eggplant lasagna - basically a lasagna where the noodles are replaced by slices of eggplant. When they got their CSA order from Deep Meadow Farm this week, they wound up with these cute little wee eggplants. From their appearance they look like Sicilian, or "zebra" eggplant, but the labbits wonder, are these mini zebra eggplants? Or, are they always this small?

Too small to slice up into lasagna "noodles", Pipkin decided to go for a red Thai Curry dish that he found in an old issue of Vegetarian Times. He exchanged the frozen peas for sugar snap peas, and decided that the "eggplant" called for in the recipe never specified variety, so he's going with these wee zebras.

The labbits suggest serving this with a bed of hot, fragrant basmati rice. It helps cut down on the spiciness, but the labbits still got quite a sweat going. Print out the recipe here.

Eggplant Thai Red Curry

Not pictured: curry paste!
Ingredients:
14 oz eggplant, cut into 1" pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
8 oz sugar snap peas
14 oz package of firm or very firm tofu
2 14 oz cans of lite coconut milk
2 Tbsp red curry paste
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp Tamari or soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp salt

Preparation:
Wrap tofu in paper towels and set in a colander with a bowl or plate on top, and a heavy can for weight (such as a can of tomatoes). Allow to drain for at least 20 minutes.

There's the red curry paste!

Shake the cans of coconut milk well. Pour half a can into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in curry paste until well blended.



Add eggplant, onion, bell pepper and snap peas and stir gently.




Add remaining coconut milk, sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.




Slice the tofu into bite sized cubes and add to curry mixture. Heat thoroughly, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot on its own or poured over top basmati rice.

Serves: 6 - 8 labbits

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