Thai for Veggies? Sure, why not?

Matt's a huge fan of Thai food. I'm...not so much.

I've only started eating Thai over the last few years. Trust me, there weren't a lot of Asian-influenced dishes served where I grew up. In my tiny Northwestern Pennsylvanian hometown, it was a lot of German, Irish, even Polish food. Lots of boiled food. Lots of bland foods.

The closest I got to Thailand was a childhood friend; her mother was Thai. Some years ago, I asked her what sorts of things her mom made, any traditional dishes she remembered.
She told me she never actually had any Thai food growing up, that her mom prepared mostly German (and other homey) dinners for them. It was as if she'd left all that behind when she moved to America. I don't really blame her; where I grew up, it's not advisable to be 'different'. Assimilation is the name of the game.

One of the main reasons I've avoided Thai was the liberal use of nam pla, or fish sauce, in most of the dishes. Soy sauce isn't the best replacement, so what to do?

I finally broke down & tried the Massamun Curry with Peanuts, Potatoes, and Cardamom from Real Vegetarian Thai. I've had the cookbook almost five years, and it's taken me this long to work up to it. 'Fraidy cat, that's me.

Potatoes...russets & sweet...simmered in coconut milk, green curry paste and many cardamom pods. The recipe listed wheat gluten balls; we divided it in two and used chicken in Matt's and Veat bites for mine. Finish with peanuts.

It was nice. Spicy, sure, but at the same time, kind of mild. Not a bad way to break into Thai, I suppose.





We're going a bit crazy this month: Blog Party#31 is a Fried Food Frenzy!

You have till Friday to get your fried finger food entries to me; hope to see you there.




Tagged with: Food and Drink + Thai + Dinner + Vegetarian + Curry + Rice + Cardamom + Potatoes + Coconut