Thai Green Curry with Pineapple Basil Rice

Thai is one of my favourite cuisines, mainly because of the beautiful balance of flavours, spice, sweet, sour and coconut milk...
Back in Bangalore, we had quite a few restaurants serving really awesome Thai food, but here, I have had it at two places where they had added besan / chickpea flour for thickening the dish - it was a disaster. I prefer my home cooked Thai food now !
This may not be considered authentic enough, because it doesn't have galangal or kaffir lime leaves, but if you crave Thai curry and you don't have access to these ingredients, this is as good as the real deal...



A nice, flavourful Thai green curry can easily be made with these ingredients which are quite common in any Indian kitchen.

Thai Green Curry with Pineapple basil rice

Recipe Source
For the curry - Adapted from Neeta Mehta's Thai Vegetarian Cooking
For the rice - A good friend in Bangalore

What you need -

3-4 small eggplants
1 large red pepper / capsicum
(You can also use mushrooms, green peppers and yellow peppers)
1.5 cups thick coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
3-4 stalks of lemon grass

For the curry paste:
1/2 onion chopped
5-6 green chillies
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 piece ginger / galangal (if you find it)
1 tbsp lemon juice
rind of 1 lemon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup fresh basil leaves / 1/2 cup coriander leaves
(I used 1/2 cup coriander leaves and 1/2 cup basil leaves)

Pineapple Basil Rice -

1.5 cups basmati rice
2-3 slices of pineapple (canned or fresh)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 leaves fresh basil

What you do with it -

For the curry paste :
Roast the cumin and coriander seeds till fragrant
Add all the ingredients listed under 'curry paste' and grind to a fine paste using a little water

For the rice :
Clean the rice and soak in water for 10 mins
Cut the pineapple slices into bite size pieces
Tear the basil leaves
Chop the garlic into thin slices
In a large pot, add 3 cups of water and bring to boil, add the rice, garlic, basil, pineapple and salt and cook till done
Add a drop or two of sesame oil, so the rice doesn't get too sticky
You could also put all the ingredients with the water into a rice cooker and cook till done

For the curry :
Clean and chop the eggplants and the peppers and the mushrooms, if using
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep bottomed pan and add the curry paste and fry for 2-3 mins. Keep it on a low flame, or the paste might splatter
Add the vegetables and fry for another 3-4 mins
Break the lemon grass stalks into 2-3 pieces and add to the pan
Add the salt, sugar and soy sauce
Dilute the thick coconut milk with water and add to the pan
Allow to simmer till the vegetables are just cooked. Don't let the vegetables get too soft or mushy
Take out the lemon grass stalks from the curry before you serve

Serve hot with pineapple basil rice

Want some other Thai dishes ? Check here, here and here

Eggless Butterless Chocolate Cupcakes

My little boy turned six last week and on Saturday, we had a party for him at home. Called about 16 kids, all 6 year olds, mostly boys, some totally destructive ones, others plain naughty !! You can just imagine what my house looked like after that !!



My cousin and another friend were here to help around with the cooking, we decided on making everything at home, including the cake ! My son is a huge fan of Chhota Bheem, an animation TV serial hero, who is 9 years old and super strong !!
We decided on a Chhota Bheem cake, the recipe used for the eggless chocolate cake, is from my previous post and my creative cousin did all the icing to make it really look like Chhota Bheem ! We used chocolate shavings, icing sugar, butter and some almond meal (when we needed to thicken it, for the eyes). Its not a smooth complexion and he looks slightly tanned, but my son loved it, and that's all mattered :)



We also had fries, macaroni in cheese sauce, frooti, sandwiches, steamed and buttered corn and these mini chocolate cupcakes...



I searched around that morning for the recipe and found this here, its a brilliant recipe and came about so easily !

I slathered on some homemade buttercream icing on the cupcakes and then decorated with little sugar animals and some sprinkles...I would have loved to do some really pretty icing, but this was my first attempt with icing, and with kids, I knew I wouldn't be judged on the way the icing looked !!
The cupcakes were really soft and moist, and all this without butter !!

I followed the recipe exactly as she says, so I am not rewriting it here. Please take a look at this link for the cupcake recipe
Thank you so much !!

Eggless Chocolate Cake with Ganache

It felt quite funny to put up this recipe just after an egg curry !! I mean, why would I make an egg curry and then an eggless cake ? Honestly, I really never bothered with making eggless cakes, not till I moved to Ahmedabad. Most people here do not eggs for religious reasons and really, its no fun to make muffins and cakes and not share them, right ?

I got this recipe from my friend here, when I needed to bake an eggless cake for my son's class party at school. If you've always wanted to, but never tried an eggless cake, you should try this, you will not miss the eggs at all...Its really soft, and keeps well for 2-3 days, without refrigeration. I have made this many times now, and this particular one was for my son's friend, for his birthday last week. My son was all excited about decorating it. So I made the ganache and he did all the decorating...



This friend who gave me the recipe is a great cook and comes up with interesting dishes. She has started her own food blog, which I hope will be updated more often !

This is a really simple cake and it tastes awesome...add the ganache and it takes it to another level altogether !!

What you need -

For the cake -

1.5 cups maida / APF
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar (you can cut down to 3/4 of a cup, if you are using a ganache)
3/4 cup curd / yoghurt
3/4 to 1 cup milk
vanilla essence / extract
6 tbsp melted butter

For the ganache -

6 tbsp cream
10 tbsp grated chocolate (I used Morde dark chocolate)

What you do with it -

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and keep aside
Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C
Beat the butter with the sugar. Add the curd and the vanilla essence and mix well
Then add the dry ingredients, 1/2 cup at a time and the milk and beat till you use up all the flour mix and milk
Grease a baking tin with butter and dust with some flour
Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30-35 mins at 180 deg C
Once its done, allow it to cool
Heat water in a large pan. In a smaller bowl, add the cream and the chocolate and hold it above the pan, so the small bowl is just immersed in the hot water. Mix the chocolate and cream with a spatula, till it turns to a thick smooth sauce
Once the cake is cooled completely, pour the ganache / chocolate cream sauce over it and ensure it covers the entire cake
Allow it to cool - you can refrigerate for an hour or so
Add decorations or eat as is :)

Mangalorean Egg Curry

I just realised a couple of days back that I haven't made an egg curry in over a year, which is very strange because I really like it. Eggs have only got into some cake or muffins, and maybe some breakfast omelettes over the last one year !

I decided I just had to have egg curry for dinner and called up Ma for her recipe. She gave me this one. Its typically Mangalorean - its got coconut, red chillies, tamarind and coriander seeds, which is a standard base for so many Konkani dishes...

Had it with steamed rice and a salad and it felt like such a perfect meal...



What you need -

4 eggs
1/2 cup grated coconut
4-6 red chillies
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1/2 inch piece ginger / 1/2 tsp ginger paste
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp tamarind paste
5-8 curry leaves
1 medium onion
1 tomato
1 tsp mustard seeds

What you do with it -

Boil the eggs, allow it to cool
Peel and cut into half lengthwise
Heat oil in a small pan
Add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and red chillies and fry taking care not to burn the chillies
Add the cinnamon, cloves, garlic, ginger and coconut and fry for two more minutes
Keep aside and allow it to cool
Then grind all the ingredients along with tamarind, using about 1/2 cup water into a smooth paste
Chop the onion and tomato into small pieces
In a pan, add a tsp of oil and the mustard seeds - allow it to splutter and then add the curry leaves, onions and tomatoes
Sauté till the onions are brownish and the tomatoes are squishy
Add the ground paste and salt and bring it to a boil, adding more water if required
Lower the flame and add the eggs
Boil for 2 more mins and take it off the heat
Serve hot with rice, parathas or bread