Friday, June 01, 2007

Red Curry Seitan

First off, no zucchini blossom sighting at Saturday's farmer's market. I did pick up more morels, though. And now, a story & post about red curry...

Towards the end of my college days, I bought red curry paste, really overused it once when I first starting attempting to cook, and then gave it away. Ever since copying a recipe for Red Curry Glazed Tofu about a year ago, from Vegetarian Recipes for All Seasons, I've been meaning to try it again. When I noticed the local coop having a 1.99 sale on the small Thai Kitchen jars of curry paste, I picked one up, with another dish in mind. I saw Caprial and John make a red curry beef with coconut cream on their OPB show this past weekend, and knew I had to try it with seitan.

Since I made it from my notes during the cooking show, I don't have a real recipe to share, but I'll tell you what I did. First off, I used a can of coconut milk, instead of pure cream. I will admit, it was the talk of the "silky" cream that really caught my interest on the show, but I just couldn't do that (though I actually have coconut cream in my cupboard). You could also sub lite coconut milk. Obviously using seitan for the beef, I also threw in zucchini, carrots and red bell pepper.

Here's the chopped seitan, which is an asian variation on the ppk test kitchen seitan cutlets. I marinaded it overnight in a little bit of tamari and rice vinegar.


I tossed the chopped seitan and vegetables with oil & minced garlic, and roasted for about 20 minutes at 400F, tossing periodically. Roasting gave the seitan the texture on the skin I was aiming for, and cooked the vegetables just enough, since they'd soften in the curry itself. I left out the onions.


Apart from what I've mentioned, the curry itself also included chili paste, basil, mushroom "oyster" sauce, lime zest, juice and tamari.

Served with jasmine rice and garnished with basil. No thai basil here, I simply used what I had from the market.

I also baked up some seitan and veggie dumplings, and served them with a tamari-chili sauce.
..aka I knew my boyfriend was likely to pass on the curry and I wanted a project, and to use up the rest of the seitan that afternoon. Plus, it wasn't over 75F and I could use the oven that day!


Bonus, crap lighting shot of what I did with my first purchase of morels from the farmer's market. Sauteed in white wine, olive oil, garlic and sea salt with broccoli. Funny, I haphazardly stored them in my cabinet in their paper bag for a few days and they totally dried out and I had to rehydrate them.



Well that's it for now. I'm hoping to post again before I leave for Seattle/Bellevue for a mini work/vacation and then this weekend I'm out for a medical procedure. woo, Teapot Vegetarian House!

15 comments:

JENNA said...

i'm glad you gave red curry paste another shot. i know what it's like overusing ingredients like that.

i've really been wanting to make dumplings again yours look so delicious..i'll have to get out to the asian market this weekend.

JENNA

Anonymous said...

Hi Jess! I read about Seitan O' Greatness from your site and made it this weekend but it came out a touch dry. Have you had that problem? I am a new vegan and am not sure how to 'test' for doneness with seitan. Any hints?
Thanks,
K

Judy said...

Looks great. I love curries, but sometimes find coconut milk based dishes a bit over powering. This one sounds nice though.

Anonymous said...

sounds and looks great!

Emilie said...

I've been into mixing red curry paste in with my seitan to really infuse it with the curry deliciousness. Glad you are rocking with the curry again, it's so good!

I had morels for the first time not long ago. Thanks for the idea of how to use them--I've never cooked with them, but they were so delicious I really hope to find some and start integrating them in my cooking.

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

thanks you guys! Next up, I'm planning to use the red curry in a carrot/squash soup. Emilie - your seitan tip sounds really good, too. Mmm infusion.

K - When I've made the half batches of the seitan o greatness, and cooked it for maybe 20 minutes less, I didn't have a problem with dryness. I've made a full batch once, and it was a touch try, so I'd just cook it less or add a little more liquid (broth or water, nothing too flavorful) to the dough. good luck! I think that because this is a baked seitan, not in broth, it's supposed to be a little bit dry, maybe.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much Jess! I'll try making a half batch next time and add a bit more liquid to it.
K

erica said...

YuM!
hope your medical procedure goes OK.
Sending malpractice-free throughts your way.

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

thanks, erica! oh man, thanks.

Tofu Mom (AKA Tofu-n-Sprouts) said...

Did someone say SEATTLE????? When will you be going to Teapot? *swoon* (My all time favorite place... I might be there at the same time! Doubtful, but hey - that'd be fun too!)
There's of course a bajillion other yummy-licious places too.. if you need sugestions, let me know!

shaun.marie said...

have fun in seattle if we don't hear from you blog-styles beforehand. going to pike's market is a touch scary, but if you happen to be in the area definitely check out the cinnamon buns!
also - i wish you had remembered your morels tip! i sauteed em in margarine with a bit o salt n pepper... i like the earthiness, but i'm not sure i did them justice.

Carrie™ said...

Oh, that red curry dish looks amazing! Good luck with your procedure & have a great trip. Take lots of pics to post.

Unknown said...

I <3 dumplings. Those looks delicious.

n/a said...

That looks most excellent! I just had green curry tofu the other day. I love those Thai Kitchen things, make it so much easier.

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