Elementary Thai
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
I’ve had requests before for Thai recipes. Requests that I have largely ignored. Because by and large Thai food is NOT elementary. Is a complicated affair with lots of chopping and LOADS of steps involved to create the special curries and sauces you expect.
Recently, though, I saw a box of Thai Pavilion’s Green Curry with Noodles at the grocery store. I wasn’t sure about this Hamburger Helper version of Thai, but I thought it would be worth a try. Well, we finally tried it tonight, and I’m going to give is a less than enthusiastic thumbs up.
What I liked: It was super easy to prepare. First, you boil water and add the rice noodles. You simply let them simmer while preparing the meat. I already had half of a roasted chicken left over from the other night. So I picked the meat off of it and threw it in the wok with a little oil. Once the chicken had re-heated and fried a little, I turned down the heat and threw in the curry. I tossed the then-done noodles with the curry and chicken, and voila! The meal was ready.
What I didn’t like: The flavor is good, but not as good as our local Thai restaurant. The curry is somewhat oily to my taste.
All in all, we liked it. Not a gourmet meal, but this was a good alternative to eating the chicken as left-overs!
I served Thai tea with the curry, which is a must-have for us when we’re eating Thai food out. To properly prepare Thai tea, you need Thai tea leaves. These are CHEAP — like about $2.00/package. They come as loose tea, and they infuse to a reddish color.
Thai Tea
4-6 t Thai tea leaves
6 c boiling water
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
In an 8-cup teapot, mix all ingredients. (I use a large infuser so I don’t have to strain off the tea leaves.) Serve over ice. The tea is a peach-color and wonderfully sweet!
Blueberry muffins are one of my favorite things to wake up to. They are the essence of a long weekend at a bed and breakfast, destined to be eaten in an elegant bedroom with a cup of tea, a flower on my pillow, and a copy of The New York Times. No, I don’t read The New York Times, but it’s my fantasy, and The Huntsville Times just didn’t sound right. Oh, and did I mention that the walls are a perfect shade of coral with lime-ish green trim?
While we still have summer vegetables available, now is a great time to make some fresh veggie soup. We’ll make more soups with frozen vegetables later, but I tried this one the other day, and it’s wonderful!