Marc @ No Recipes comment about how he was reminded it was time to re-visit the Latin food realm, and he reminded me it was time to pull out the chop sticks. I did have a number of palates to entertain...
Lets paint the canvas with some lemongrass, cilantro, chili paste, and soy...
Steak has been on my mind lately, and No Recipes Asian thought provoking influence swayed me to begin contemplating my company's menu. Sometimes just throwing a little oil on a good hunk of marbled meat (which is great), cooking it to our liking, and devouring it with out much thought was going to be enough. No, they would want more.
Asian Skirt Steak would do the trick...
Yeah I thought...just go for it. What about a two course meal eaten with chop sticks? I needed another side dish. Noodles of some sort came to mind. Udon noodles perhaps? Would a green curry would help fool the brain into believing they were eating healthy vitamin enriched vegetable broth, or I could create amuse bouche of greens and other ingredients. The noodles and broth would fill you up. Both dishes would tantalize their palates...
Karē udon– "Curry udon." Udon in a soup made of Japanese curry. May also include meat or vegetables. I used tofu as my added component to this dish. Take your tofu and drain it on paper towels while you are putting this together; then cube them, and add to the Karē udon.
Green curry paste is made by pounding in a mortar green chillies, shallots, garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric, fish sauce and salt. Usually the paste is briefly fried in split coconut cream, then coconut milk, meat or fish, and vegetables added along with a pinch of brown sugar. I only added some chili oil, coconut milk, basil, and lime juice; then letting it simmer for a few minutes to meld the flavors. I took the mixture and pureed it in my little food processor, adding more coconut milk to thin it out a bit more.
Disclaimer: Also, I wanted to mention that shrimp paste, kaffir lime leaves, and basil are traditionally added at the end of this curry recipe. I take liberties with my recipes that some might consider not authentic, but hey its my kitchen and as long as the food taste good...
Oh, you want to know what is in the dumplings? Portobello mushrooms and goat cheese simply pureed in small food processor, and placed into small wonton wrappers. A great flavor combination for the skirt steak and broth...
Many times I have certain ingredients in mind, or things I have sitting around that need to be used before they go bad, and at first it might seem like a blur; until a the perfect thought provoking moment occurs...
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!