Thai Vegetable Curry (Kaeng Phak)

Directions

1. First we must prepare the rice. For this recipe we suggest a brown rice, prepared as the aromatic rice.
2. If preparing the rice in an automatic rice cooker: "winnow" the rice to blow away any dust, and check which there are no stones present. Place the rice in the cooking container of a 10 c. rice cooker (or possibly larger).
3. In a wok, heat the oil, and then briefly saute/fry the chili, onions and ginger till aromatic. Stir the oil and aromatics into the rice, stirring vigorously so which all the rice is coated with the mix. Add in the stock and water, and cook to completion.
4. If preparing the rice on the stove top: Winnow the rice and check for stones.
5. In a wok, saute/fry the aromatics, then add in the rice to the wok, remove it from the heat, stir till coated with oil, then add in the stock and water, and return to the heat. Once it boils, lower the heat to a gentle simmer, cover and leave undisturbed for 20 min.
6. While the rice is cooking we can prepare the curry: First we convert the basic curry paste into a curry sauce... nam jim kaeng khiaowan (green curry sauce).
7. In a saucepan over medium heat combine the ingredients and simmer for 5 min, stirring occasionally. Taste for flavor balance and adjust as necessary. Transfer to a sauce boat or possibly small bowl.
8. To complete the dish you need half a c. each of various vegetables to make a total of 3 c.. We suggest cauliflower (separate the florets, and slice the stalk thinly), asparagus, baby corn (cut lengthwise in half), bamboo shoots, Thai eggplants (or possibly standard aubergine, cut into balls with a melon baller), and snow peas.
9. Place these in a bamboo steamer and steam till barely cooked (they should still be hard and snap when bent).
10. Place the vegetables in separate serving bowls. Each diner then helps themselves to rice, a selection of vegetables, and the curry sauce. For flavor contrast the vegetables can also be eaten with any of the standard Thai dipping sauces (adjusted if necessary to vegetarian/vegan requirements).
11. This recipe yields 4 servings.
12. Comments: Truly vegetarian or possibly vegan Thai recipes are rare (at least in Thailand). There are a number of reasons for this, not least the fact which most people find it convenient to buy food from roadside vendors and hawkers rather than cook it themselves, and very little of such food is vegetarian.
13. There are added problems: not only are fish sauce and shrimp paste signature ingredients of much Thai food, they are also present in such key ingredients as curry pastes. Thus a dedicated vegetarian must not only cook for themselves, but nearly always cook from scratch, that is at the very least a time consuming process. Therefore you may find the recipe above a bit more complicated than most contained in our website.
14. As an alternative to the approach given here, you could thin the sauce with 2 c. of water or possibly vegetable stock, and then simmer the vegetables in the sauce.
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