Sunday, January 27 It’s Easy Being Green Curry (Vegan Eats World) Rating: 4.25

We normally have red curries when I make a Thai curry, but the photo in Vegan Eats World was so pretty and well, green, that I had to give this recipe a try. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever had a green curry before so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. As much as I love the book, I have to admit, VEW sometimes has me reading an ingredient list and asking WTF is that? Thankfully, everything is explained really well and if you have access to a really well stocked grocery or a handful of ethnic grocers, you’ll be fine. We headed to the DeKalb “Farmer’s Market” to get a few of the things I knew we’d never find at our usual stores. I put farmer’s market in quotes because even though that’s what they call it, it’s really a giant indoor international market and outlet for some locally made products (liked baked goods). It’s also a full contact sport to shop there.  It’s always packed to the point that you can barely get around to shop and I always leave feeling somewhat shell-shocked. Still, they have a pretty good selection of veggies and spices that most regular groceries don’t, and it’s nice that there’s a big range of ethnic items to choose from all in one place. 

OK, so how was the curry, right? Well, there was one item I couldn’t get at the market, and it was listed as optional but good to have, so I didn’t worry about not using it. I also had nowhere near as many shallots on hand as I thought so I was a little light on those, but it wasn’t the end of the world. To make the curry, first you make a curry paste in the food processor, and while mine never really got to the paste-like texture I expected, it was just fine. It uses a lot of cilantro, which I’m normally not too keen on, but I figured with all the other stuff going on in there it would be good. It was. The veggies are basic - red bell pepper (I used yellow because the red one I bought that day was MOLDY ON THE INSIDE! I was not amused.) and Thai eggplant (or use zucchini – we used the little eggplants). It also uses a basic baked tofu recipe, which is ridiculously good even on its own. My curry wasn’t as green as the one in the photo in the book, but it was really tasty and we’ll probably make it again. But only if Seth goes to get those little eggplants. I’m not up for another trip to that market any time soon.