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| Rainbow Vegetarian Pad Thai |
Family members took turns making dinner this week. I broke the entertainment rule of making tried and true recipes when entertaining, and tried a couple of relatively new Thai recipes for a lakeside evening dinner. The evening ended up resembling a sitcom as the lakeside dining was interupted by a rainstorm, and what seemed like relatively easy meals to prepare and assemble, took a lot longer than I thought. Yet, the cooking exploration was somewhat invigorating.
What did that entail?
The ingredients
Shopping for the ingredients such as fish sauce, chili paste, and brown rice noodles found me searching isles of the grocery store I don't usually wander. As a novice, I wasn't exactly sure which brands were best, but I bought what I thought looked good. I also visited a local farm stand for many of the ingredients since these were mainly vegetarian recipes.
Preparation
We left our handheld spiralizer at home, so we picked up a new one which was a bit tricky to use, but in the end, the zuchini zoodles were perfect for the pad thai that we made. Since we were in a rented home, I had to search for all the needed pans, cooking tools, and appliances, so that took time I didn't anticipate, and I forgot that every pan and oven cook a little differently and that added some challenge when it came to just right sauteeing and stir-frying.
Recipes
I started with the Magic Banana Cake which seemed like a good match for a Thai dinner. I doubled the recipe and I believe it came out close to the layered, custard cake it was supposed to be. It wasn't my favorite, but others seemed to like it.
I made vegetarian pad-thai. I added a few shrimp. It's a colorful, healthy, and tasty dish, but I've yet to perfect it. I'll keep trying as the recipe is a keeper.
I also made my first red curry. I deviated a bit from the recipe by adding tofu and a greater variety of vegetables than the recipe called for. This is a dish I'll try again to in order to perfect it, but in general, I thought it was healthy and tasty, plus the aroma this dish created was wonderful.
For appetizers, I made a simple sauteed eggplant with tomatoes and mozzarella on top. I had made this before with a better pan and no tomatoes, and liked it a lot better. I didn't really like the tomatoes on top, and the fact that it got caught in the rainfall also ruined this attempt at a tasty appetizer.
Why try something new for friends and family members?
Many of our friends and family members are vegetarians. This has challenged me to cook with more vegetables in interesting ways. I still don't have a good repertoire of tasty vegetarian meals--I'm working on that. What these friends and family members have taught me is that vegetarian meals with lots of color, flavor, and variety are very satisfying. I like a good, creative challenge, and this is one I'll continue to embrace. Onward.