Food Storage Friday: Thai Vegetables and Rice

Last week I decided to try out the Asian pack when I ordered my Bountiful Basket. It came with Napa cabbage, bok choy (another kind of cabbage that is very large), fresh ginger, basil, garlic and snow peas. I don't think that I will get it again, because that is just a whole lot of cabbage.

Regardless, I tried to make good use of it, the other fresh produce on hand and incorporate my food storage too. I found this recipe in How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman (possibly my new favorite book), and made a few modifications. It's kind of like a Thai-style curry. I don't know if this recipe will make it into my standard repertoire, because it called for a wide variety of fresh ingredients that I may or may not generally have on hand, but I like it and will probably make it again on occasion.

Thai Vegetables
Food Storage Ingredients:
2-3 cups prepared white rice
3 Tablespoons oil (canola, peanut or corn)
1 dried chile
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 cups coconut milk

Fresh Ingredients:
1 plum tomato, diced
1 medium yellow squash, cut into chunks
6 green onions, diced
1 cup snow peas
2 medium carrots, diced
2 Tablespoons garlic
1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
zest of 1-2 limes

1. Add oil to a wok or large skillet. When hot, add onions and carrots. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. 2. Add garlic, ginger, chile and squash. Adjust heat so that vegetables are cooking quickly without burning, about 10 minutes. 3. Add tomato and snow peas and cook for another 10 minutes. 4. Add coconut and lime zest and simmer for about 5 minutes. 5. Add soy sauce and salt and pepper if necessary.

Here's what it looks like in the wok when finished.

There are tons of variations you can do with this. You can increase quantities of or change  for different vegetables. Some of his suggestions were eggplant, zucchini, celery or potato. I think water chestnuts  and bell peppers would also be good. You can add chicken, pork or tofu for more protein or fresh basil, mint, or cilantro for different flavors. And because some like it hot, you can increase the amount of chiles you put in. I used half the amount of chiles that the original called for.

Fresh bok choy

In case you are wondering what that green and white stuff on the side is, it's quick cooked bok choy. Another recipe from How to Cook Everything. I was not as pleased with it as other recipes of his I tried. I think I may just blame the vegetable here. The stalk (white part) is good, it becomes creamy and tender, but the greens tastes like boiled spinach, even though that part was cooked for half as long. Bleh. Thing 1 was willing to try it, but I couldn't blame her when she spit out the green part.