Vegetarian Thai Curry

Coeur d'Alene has a Thai restaurant, but everyone I talk to says it's no good. I have been craving Thai so bad that I was considering going, despite the not-so-stellar reviews.

Then I got to thinking, why can't I just make it myself? I read a blog called The Front Burner about a girl who is a vegetarian and makes some amazing looking food. She recently made Thai green curry with tofu that inspired me.

First off, I have to confess that I've never made tofu before. If I'm being completely honest I have to admit that tofu actually scares me a little bit. When my mom made stir fry with tofu once, it was absolutely awful. Restaurant tofu is pretty hit and miss. So the idea of making it myself was a little intimidating. Luckily with Emily's help, it was pretty flawless.

This is the tofu I purchased. It's actually made pretty locally and organic. Sounds good!

So Emily says to cut the big block of tofu into 8 equal squares.

Press the tofu between towels or paper towels and stack cookbooks on top to press out the extra fluid. This is key to prevent squishy texture, just like with eggplant.

While my tofu was pressing, I started to prep the veg I wanted to use.

• Mushrooms
• Red bell pepper
• Yellow bell pepper
• Broccoli
• Carrot
• Eggplant
• Thai and banana chilies
• Garlic
• Shallot
• Ginger

By then the tofu was ready! I got some canola oil hot in a pan, cut the tofu into cubes, and tossed the cubes in salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander (per Emily's recipe).

Once they are coated in spice, I put each cube in the pan so they were all one layer so they could brown evenly. I browned them on one side for about 10 minutes.

And then flipped them. Each individually. This is probably the most annoying part of the process.

Once the tofu was cooked through and crispy, I transferred them into a bowl and used the same pan for the vegetables, which were sauteed until tender (except the snow peas and carrots - they were saved until the end).

Now it is time to introduce the stars of the show. Thai green curry paste and coconut milk. These are what distinguish Thai curry from other curries!

Isn't this fun and pretty?!

Just like milk on top and water on bottom.

After I added the paste and milk, then stirred it up with the veg, I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. I forgot to start the rice, so start cooking rice before your curry is finished!

While you're waiting for your curry and rice to finish cooking, go check on your puppy who is feeling better and enjoying the fall sunshine.

Find a pretty bowl and put your rice in the bottom and the stir fry on top, making sure to use a lot of the delicious sauce.

This bowl is meant to be used with the chopsticks it came with, but lets get real. I'm barely coordinated enough to walk, much less use chopsticks.

I thoroughly enjoyed this dish. It smelled and tasted amazing, and just had enough kick to make my nose run but to not burn my face off. The tofu was crispy and chewy, and in no way squishy.

The only bad part?

Burnt rice.