homemade Thai food

As I mentioned in an earlier post [here] I have been doing an exchange with my friend and neighbour, Wendy.  My styling expertise for her cooking prowess.  It has been such a fun experience for the both of us. Learning from one another. Laughing. Sharing. And ultimately becoming closer friends.  Wendy has made incredible changes in her wardrobe - a very quick study indeed - (more about that in a later post) and I get to learn how to make delicious food that I would normally be more than happy to pay someone else make!

On our latest cooking adventure, we decided to tackle Thai cuisine. A red curry and a yellow curry.  They were surprisingly easy to make. Once you have created the paste, all that's left to do is add whatever ingredients you want to complete your meal.  We chose chicken and tofu for the red curry, and simply used a variety of vegetables for the yellow curry.

Thai Yellow Curry Paste

1/2 - 1 stock lemongrass

1-2 chillies

1/3cup onion

1 thumb ginger

4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp shrimp paste 

{NOTE: we used soy sauce instead of fish sauce and shrimp paste}

3/4 tsp turmeric

1/3 tsp pepper

1tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp ketchup

1/4 to 1/3 can of coconut milk

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

Depending on your desired consistency, you may want to add water or stock to your pot when cooking.

* add 1 cup of stock plus the rest of the coconut milk when ready to cook

Thai Yellow Curry with mixed vegetables

Thai Red Curry with chicken and tofu

Thai Red Curry Paste

4 tbsp tomato paste

1 small onion

thumb of ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of soy sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp shrimp paste

{NOTE: we used soy sauce instead of fish sauce and shrimp paste}

1 tbsp paprika

 1tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp coriander

1-2 chilies

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

juice of 1/2 a lime

1 can coconut milk

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

Depending on your desired consistency, you may want to add water or stock to your pot when cooking.

First break: watch the hail storm

Second break: Taste our creations - YUM!!

Salad Rolls

The salad rolls, once you've julienned all your ingredients, are ridiculously easy to make! I can see myself making these for lunch, a fresh and light appetizer or for an on the go snack.

We chose cucumber, green beans, red and yellow pepper, carrots, tofu, mango, green onions, and the most important ingredient, mint.

My Share!!

I will definitely be adding this to my ever growing list of homemade specialities. But don't get me wrong, I will still be happy to order in!

the colours of curry

Curry. There are so many reasons why I love curry. The flavours, the colours, the smells, the taste!  And now thanks to my wonderful neighbour and friend, I love the process of creating it.

Friday morning, while the fluffy white snow fell, Wendy and I started our first creative exchange.  As I have mentioned before, I love to make things. Experiment. Step out of my comfort zone and try new things. To grow and learn.  So when Wendy asked me if I'd be interested in doing an exchange
(read about Wendy's experience here)  - my styling expertise for her cooking expertise - I was all over it!

Indian food is a staple in our house.  Most families have pizza night, well, we have curry night.  Most of the time we order it. Simple, quick and delicious, and our restaurant of choice is Darbar. However, on the rare occasion that I decide to make it, it usually comes out of a jar.  I have tried making my own from scratch too, but it never seemed to turn out the way I expected it to, or liked.  Plus, I am terrible at following recipes!  I prefer to just "wing" it and add whatever I like and whatever I have on hand (one reason why I love to make soups).

Enter Wendy.  We first got a taste of Wendy's cooking prowess after our daughter Ryan was born.  She made us quinoa, curried beets along with a vegetable curry. Needless to say, it was delicious! Lucky for us, since she lives two doors up, we get to sample some of her cooking on a fairly regular basis.

 Cooking with Wendy was a fun and relaxing experience.  There was no pressure for perfection.  Just guidance. And laughs. Lots of laughs.  Wendy is a joyful person. She loves to cook. Loves to be around people. And she is one beautiful singer - check it out for yourself. 

The three dishes that we made were: 

Butternut squash curry with coconut milk

Cabbage curry

Lentil curry with carrots

& Peach chutney

The ingredients were fresh. The recipes were easy. And the final products were amazing.  

our spice selection

adding canned tomatoes to each dish

butternut squash curry with coconut milk

cabbage curry

adding grated beets to the cabbage curry

lentil & carrot curry

our creations

what I got to take home!!

I had such a great time cooking with Wendy. I feel more empowered and I am still amazed at how easy it all was.  My husband was thrilled when I came home with jars full of this yumminess. And I am now looking forward to our next curry night when I attempt it all by myself. Wish me luck!