bok choi | joyfulinthekitchengarden

Thai Fried Rice

The first meal I made for this week’s Menu Plan was Thai Fried Rice, courtesy of Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. It turned out OK, but I think the downfall of the recipe was too much Thai Curry Paste as the dish tasted a little too salty. To mitigate the saltiness, I poured a few tablespoons of coconut milk on top of the rice dish at the end, before adding the tofu. The sweetness balanced out the saltiness. We’ll see how the left-overs taste.

I altered the recipe a bit, so this is what I recommend:

Thai Fried Rice (Joy’s version)

Ingredients

1 small onion, sliced in strips
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, minced
1/4 head of purple cabbage, sliced thin
1 small bunch of bok choi, sliced thin (try to separate leaves from stem, which will be eaten)
1 tbsp Red Curry Paste (I recommend 1 tbsp, compared to the 2 that I used originally)
2 cups cooked rice (I ended up using red basmati rice, because that is what I had)
1/2 C coconut milk
1/2 block tofu, baked (recipe to follow)

Directions

Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a skillet.
Saute onion and chopped stems of bok choi stem for 5 minutes.
Add curry paste, mix, and cook for 2 minutes.
Add ginger, garlic and cabbage and cook for 4 more minutes, stirring often. (Add some water if the paste starts to stick to bottom of pan.)
Add bok choi leaves and saute for 3 minutes.
Add rice and mix together.
Serve in bowl.
Pour a few tablespoons of coconut milk over the top and add Thai Curry tofu.

Thai Curry Tofu

Ingredients
1/2 block of tofu (preferably previously frozen and thawed)
1 tbsp curry paste
1 tsp soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (I used my toaster oven since such a small item to bake)
Cut block of tofu into 3 or 4 slices, about 1/2 inch think. Cut these diagonally so you have triangles.
Mix together curry paste and soy sauce.
Pat the curry/soy sauce paste onto the tofu triangles.
Bake for 30 minutes on lightly oiled baking pan at 325 degrees.

Notes: I find that if I freeze tofu and then thaw it out before cooking it, much of the moisture is lost yielding a less moist, “meatier” piece of tofu. Thai curry paste can be found at most grocery stores in the “ethnic” or Asian section. I should branch out and try a new curry paste, but so far, I have only experimented with Thai Kitchen brand (pictured below).