Palak/Spinach Tofu Curry

I was scared to cook Tofu since I cooked it once and did not like it. I wanted to give it another shot and this is what I made.. Palak Tofu... I started out thinking I would just add palak but I added potatoes and peas.. The more the veggies the merrier :)

Ingredients:
Onion- 1/2
Green Chillies - 6
Spinach fresh - 2 bunches cleaned and chopped roughly

Tomato Puree (I had tomato paste at home, just mixed water with it and it worked fine) - 1/4 cup
Potato - 1 medium
Firm Tofu - drained, cubed (I found garlic one and thought it was interesting)

Frozen peas - 1/2 cup approx
Dhania powder - 2tbsp
Jeera powder -2 tbsp
ginger-garlic paste -2 tsps
salt, chilli powder as needed

In a pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and saute green chillies along with spinach. Saute until the spinach is wilted and cooks. I had a little water left and removed it from the stove. Let it cool and then blend it with a little salt. I used my food processor, you can use your blender too.

Drain the tofu and let it sit on a couple of paper towels so that all the water is gone. Cut into small cubes and fry it in a pan until golden brown. Remember you have to fry the tofu well or it will not taste good. It needs to be firm and not soft.

Saute onions in some oil. Add the potatoes and peas and let it cook

Add ginger-garlic paste, dhania powder, jeera powder, salt and chilli powder

Add the Tomato paste, blended spinach and add little water. You dont want to add too much water. The curry should be running but not too watery.

Let it cook for 5-10 minutes.

Add tofu to the cooked spinach

After 5 min, enjoy the wonderful Palak/spinach tofu with chapathi or rice or naan.

Thai Chicken Red Curry

This recipe is the courtesy of Achyuthanand. He makes this dish so good that I had to take the recipe from him. And after a lot of bugging I got the recipe and tried it. This time I decide to take pictures and blog it.

Ingredients:

Onion -1/2 [cut into thin strips]
Carrots -1 [cut into thin strips]
Tomatoes -2 small
Green pepper -1/2 (I added yellow and red too since I love veggies) [cut into strips]
Basil
Cilantro (garnish, I did not have any this day so skipped it)



Skinless boneless Chicken breast -2(If you are a vegetarian you can skip or add tofu)


Thai Chilli Garlic paste - depending on how spicy you want
Rice Vinegar - 2 tbsp (Actual recipe calls for Cooking Wine but I used this)
Soy Sauce - 2tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
crushed red pepper
Pepper, salt
Ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder (my additions to the recipe)



Red Thai Curry paste ( I used almost half of the can you see in the picture)
Bamboo shoots (My husband hates this so I just put half the can)
Baby corn ( I love them so put in the enitre can cut them into half)
Coconut milk -1 canSugar - 1-2 tbsp
Fish sauce - 2 tbsp ( I skipped this)

• Cut Chicken into small strips
• Add 2 tbsp of Rice vinegar, oil, pepper, salt and marinate it for 15 min. I added a little ginger-garlic paste and a little chilli powder but the actual recipe did not call for these.




• Fry the chicken in a wok with little oil



• Add Thai Curry paste to the chicken



• Add soy sauce
• Add Thai garlic paste



• Let cook for about 10-15 min. so all the flavors blend into the chicken
• Wash the bamboo shoots,baby corn and cut them into half if they are too long like mine are


• Add Bamboo shoots, Baby Corn, Onion, Carrot Strips, Tomatoes



• Add Coconut milk and bring to boil (approx. 10 min)



• Add Green pepper, Basil, Cilantro, fish sauce, sugar.



• Be careful not to overcook the green pepper. You want it to still be crunchy. Taste one and when you feel its cooked but cruchy turn it off
• Garnish with Basil, red pepper flakes if you want it to be spicy

• The ingredients made a huge dish so if you are trying it out the first time, cut everything into half.
• Serve with rice and enjoy
  
  
  Note: If you want to make Green Curry just shop for green curry paste and follow the recipe
  

UPDATE: The curry turned out really spicy. You might want to watch how much Thai Chilli garlic paste you add. I think I added a lot.