Thai Green Curry with Beef

Green Curry tends to be one of the milder curries of Thai cuisine. The name Gaeng Keow Wahn literally means 'sweet green curry' but if you prefer a spicy curry, simply increase the amount of fresh green Thai chili peppers in the Green Curry Paste recipe. This recipe features beef but it could also be prepared with chicken, pork or fishballs. Serve over steamed jasmine rice, accompanied by crispy fried fish, a cooling clear soup (gaeng joot) and Thai chili paste (nam prik) with fresh steamed or raw seasonal vegetables.


Ingredients

• 400 grams beef (a little less then 1lb.)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (corn, safflower or peanut oil, not olive oil)
• 3 tbsp green curry paste (see our green curry paste recipe or use prepared curry paste)
• 2 1/2 cups coconut milk (1 1/2 cans Chaokoh brand coconut milk or squeezed out from 400 grams grated fresh coconut)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 5-10 small fresh Thai eggplants, quartered
• 2-3 fresh red spur chilies*, sliced diagonally
• 1/4 cup sweet basil leaf (optional)
• 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp palm sugar
• Sweet basil leaves and red chili slices for garnish

Preparation

1. Slice the beef into thin pieces, about about 1/3" (3 cm) thick.

1. Saute the green curry paste in oil over medium heat in a wok or saute pan until fragrant, reduce the heat, gradually add 1 1/2 cups of the coconut milk a little at a time, stir until a film of green oil surfaces.

1. Add the beef and kaffir lime leaves, continue cooking for 3 minutes until fragrant and the beef is cooked through. Transfer to a large pot, place over medium heat and cook until boiling. Add the remaining coconut milk, season with palm sugar and fish sauce. When the mixture returns to a boil add the eggplants. Cook until the eggplants are done, sprinkle sweet basil leaves and red chilies over, then turn off the heat.

1. Arrange on a serving dish and garnish with sweet basil leaves and red chilies before serving.

Note: *Miniature red bell peppers or other mild red pepper may be used in place of the spur chillies.

Cinnamon and Vanilla Walnuts

• 1 egg white

• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1/3 cup of rapadura, sucanat, maple sugar, or palm/coconut sugar

• 2 1/2 cups of walnuts

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees (the rack should be in the middle of the oven). And either lightly coat a cookie pan with coconut oil or butter or cover with parchment paper.

1)Lightly beat the egg white with a whisk (just until a bit foamy). Add the cinnamon, vanilla, salt and sugar. Stir in the walnuts, coat the walnuts well.

2) Remove the walnuts with a slotted spoon (allowing extra coating to drip out), and place on the cookie sheet. Spread out on the cookie sheet so that the nuts aren’t touching for the most part. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.

3) Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Enjoy :)

Beer Bread

3 cups flour (sifted)
3 teaspoons baking powder (if using plain Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (if using plain Flour)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 12 ounce (500ml) can beer

Method:
-Preheat stove to 375°F/190°C
-Mix all dry ingredients add beer and mix thoroughly.
-Place in medium sized loaf pan.
- Baking time is approximately 1hr to 1hr 30min depending on stove.

Loaf serves 6 to 8 people.


Will depend on the beer you use as to how strong the beer taste is but it does make a very tasty loaf of bread for all beer loves to enjoy.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Soy

This site has an interesting read on soy.
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/08/is_soy_healthy

Blueberry Mochi Cake

This looks very good I want to eat it now! To learn how to make it go here http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/04/blueberry-mochi-cake.html

Cinnamon

To the left is cassia or Chinese cinnamon. This is the most common cinnamon in the USA you can find in the grocery store, Cinnamomum aromaticum.

To the right is the real cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon, C. verum. It has a more subtle aroma than cassia, and it’s not so sharp.

The powder you see is Vietnamese, Saigon cinnamon, C. loureiroi. It’s intensely sweet and very spicy, and much redder than the other two.



Cinnamon's have a balance of warming and stimulating and soothing qualities, they’re excellent for people with cold complaints. Now a use for cinnamon is for people with cold hands and feet, a reminder of cinnamon’s powerful stimulating effect on blood circulation.


Here is a list of some of the medicinal uses of cinnamon:

• Diabetes (lowers blood sugar)
• Weight Loss and Weight Control (With each cup you drink, you can burn up to 90 extra calories)
• Athlete's Foot
• Indigestion
• Cold and Flu
• Helps the immune system
• Memory Enhancer
• Diarrhea
• Menstrual Problems
• Digestive Problems
• Yeast Infections
• Arthritis
• Boosts metabolism

There are several ways you can take cinnamon.
Add a pinch of the ground spice to your favorite tea. Or, add it to the food you eat. Just remember that less is more. You should not consume more than 1/4 tsp. a day or else you could develop problems such as mouth inflammation or digestive distress. You can also try adding a pinch to your morning coffee.
One way to get extra cinnamon is to infuse it into honey. You simply take 2 to 3 whole cinnamon sticks and put it into the honey jar. After a few days the cinnamon infuse with the honey.

Fresh ground cinnamon doesn't just have more flavor than prepackaged ground cousin, it also is more medicinally potent. One of the reasons why cinnamon is so effective is because of the volatile oil present in the spice. If the cinnamon is old, the volatile oil begins to evaporate. If it is ground fresh, more of the oil is present. To grind your own cinnamon you can use a coffee grinder to grind a cinnamon stick down. If you plan on doing this a lot, make sure you have a separate grinder for coffee and a separate one for herbs. Otherwise, the coffee flavor will affect the flavor of the herbs.

Marinated Chicken

2−3 lbs. raw chicken (your choice of pieces)
8 oz. plain yogurt
1−3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cardamon powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp. ginger powder

Mix everything except the chicken, in a large stainless steel pan. Add the
chicken and marinate in refrigerator at least 2 hours. Remove from marinade
and place chicken, skin side up on broiler rack. Broil until seared on top.
If it takes less than 10 minutes, your chicken is too close to the heat. If
it takes longer than 20 minutes, your chicken is too far from heat. Turn
chicken over and broil for 2−3 minutes or less. Remove chicken to serving
platter. Simmer marinade for 5 minutes, pour over chicken, garnish with
parsley (or whatever) and serve with rice.