Coconut Curry

I love a good fridge, except ours in NOT a good fridge. Dinner last night needed to be creative, because all of our vegetables were frozen, some of them solid, like the beets. The carrots, however, went soft like a damp rag. We don't ever waste food. We save our leftovers and get creative with ingredients to make the most out of every dollar we spend. So it was pretty sad to see those lifeless icy veggies in there.
In the fridge, next to the eggs, I had frozen rapini and radishes. In the bottom drawer, limp carrots and zucchini. What could I possibly do with these?




Vegetable Coconut Curry

• celery
• carrot
• golden beet
• shitake mushrooms
• broccoli
• rapini
• zucchini
• jasmine rice
  
• 1 can coconut mylk
• 2 Tbsp red curry paste
• 2 lime kaffir leaves, dried
• Soy sauce and salt to taste.

1. Start rice in cooker, as per directions
2. Saute veggies in frying pan
3. In a small pot, mix together coconut milk, curry paste and lime leaves. Heat the mylk until it is just hot enough to burn your finger, then turn the heat off.
4. When the veggies have softened add them to the coconut milk. I added some leftover tofu to the mix to get some protein into the mix.
5. The rice should be ready around the same time.
   
6. Put the two together and viola!
   

A Rice Cooker is cheap and saves a ton of time, i think this was $20.

Lime kaffir leaves smell like lime and add a tasty lime flavour. Find them at asian grocery stores. Add these to your pantry and treat them like a spice.

Who knew that all those lifeless sad veggies could make such a great dinner. I could have thrown them in the compost and ordered take out, but I had all the ingredients in my pantry for curry, and I wanted curry. Its simple to make dinner when you have a stocked pantry and some creativity.