Delicious Labour of Love - Valentine's Day Dish

A long, long time ago I had a delicious dinner in a Thai restaurant. It was Coconut Shrimp Curry. I fell in love with that recipe and since then I have been trying to re-create it. I think I finally found the perfect combination of ingredients, it might be even better than the original Coconut Shrimp Curry that I had back in high school. As you can tell I always had love for food.

There are a few steps that need to be made. 1)making of coconut curry sauce 2)sauteing shrimp 3)cooking rice 4)steaming bok choy. Don't give up on making this recipe just yet. Regardless of all the steps the time to make everything from start to finish is less than 1 hour and to help with managing your pre-dinner time, most of them can be made a head of time. Belive me when I say this dish is delicious and is wonderful for a special occasion such as a Valentine's Day.

I have made it many times and always it has been received with applause and eagerness for seconds. So make a lot! To reduce the fat content use a 'coconut milk light'.

I often experiment with different ingredients and I suggest you do the same. If you don't like bok choy or it's not available in your market use broccoli. Instead of shrimp use chicken breast or turkey breast.

Here is a link to the recipe.

http://www.monikakorngut.com/coconut_shrimp_curry.htm

Try it and savour all the delicious flavours. :-)

My New Favorite Product

I like to try different types of cuisines and I enjoy recreating them at home with my own healthy twists. One of my favorite dishes to make is Coconut Curry Chicken or Shrimp served with rice and vegetables.

Last time I was at the grocery store I was leisurely strolling through the many aisles when I discovered this product, "Patak's Pappadums: Black Peppercorn". I thought it would be a great addition to my Coconut Curry dish. I was looking to add something crisp to contrast all that delicious comfort and softness of rice, curry sauce and vegetables.

I picked it up and took notice of its nutritional information. One pappadum (10 grams) contains 30 calories and 0.2 grams of fat. For anyone who doesn't know, pappadums are Indian paper-thin lentil crackers that are hand rolled and dried under the sun. They also do not contain any gluten and can be a delicious addition to anyone who has Celiac disease or are is on a gluten-restricted diet.

I picked up the black peppercorns pappadums, a little spicy, but there is also plain and garlic variety.

It is recommended that they be deep fried or brushed with oil and placed in the microwave, to help them puff up. However in efforts to keep the fat content low I tried brushing a little bit of water on both side of the cracker, covered with paper towel and placed it in the microwave for 45 seconds. The cracker puffs up fabulously! If not all of it puffs up, add another 10-15 seconds. This time may be longer if more water is on the papadums. You can serve one pappadum per person with a curry dish or break it up into several pieces for an interesting shape that can be inserted to the dish.

I love going to grocery stores and discovering new products. I don't know many people who have time to make all the accompanying items to make a dish look like a it was made by a gourmet chef. I like this product, it makes home cooking easier, delicious and it doesn't add unwanted fat. Try it as an interesting texture to add to a regular meal, or as a cracker topped with chutney, also serve it as an accompaniment to a dip, lots of options. :-) Fun, easy and delicious.