Curry Noodle Soup

Just attempted this evening to match the tastiness of a soup I had at a restaurant in town--theirs was a curry noodle soup just with the additions of shitake mushrooms, but I wanted to make one a bit more beefed up on the ingredients, and this combo was very tasty:

Ingredients:

1 jar of red curry paste (I made mine by not-very-exactly following this recipe: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicurrypasterecipes/r/redpaste.htm)

~ 1/2-1 Liter water

1 can of coconut milk (with a decent amount of coconut solids)

A pack of woodear mushrooms

a pack of tofu

two thick green onion stalks

half a pack of thin egg noodles

~2 Tbsp soy sauce

~ 1 Tbsp brown sugar

~ 1 Tbsp olive oil

Olive oil into hot skillet, toss in diced tofu, cook until getting just a touch of firmer texture, press the curry paste into skillet through a sieve, to remove larger chunks from the broth. Use the water to finish getting any liquid flavor out of the curry paste leftover in the sieve, then discard the fiber. Add enough remaining water to get it to a soupy broth of appropriate volume. Add the can of coconut milk, chopped woodear mushrooms, noodles soy sauce and brown sugar, and let simmer for a few minutes to cook the mushrooms and noodles, then finally add the chopped green onions, and test for the right amount of salt (if not enough, add a little more soy sauce, or boullion)

YUM! photo coming soon once I get un-lazy to upload it!

Veggie Rich Dinner!

I've find this to be a delicious, filling meal in the evenings which is lightweight, because its vegetable rich, hence low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, and high vitamin. :-)

Making this as a meal a few times a week has been really helpful to me to have a low-caloric evening meal, and also to have enough in my stomach from the volume of vegetables that I don't feel nearly as tempted to indulge in a dessert afterwards. So I highly recommend this to anyone looking to improve their diet or become leaner.

Easy Preparation:

Preheat oven to a good roasting temperature of about 200 C (390F)

Thinly slice 1 eggplant and 2 zucchinis and put into a big bowl

Slice up one red and one yellow bell pepper into thick strips, and add to bowl

(Optionally mix-and-match any vegetables into this, like an onion, or some partially pre-steamed broccoli, some cherry tomatos, or very thinly sliced carrots, or even vegetarian "sausage" like I used in the batch in the final plated photo)

Season the pile of veggies in the bowl with a few tablespoons of olive oil, then loads of herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary), and I add sweet paprika powder, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and then either a spoon of salt, or better yet a heaping spoonful of some vegetable bouillon powder for extra flavor (or alternatively, just some salt). Then a dash of some vinegar (I've used some apple vinegar, or balsamic).

Toss together all the veggies well, so that the herbs coat everything, then lay them out onto a baking sheet.

Roast in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the eggplant and peppers have started to get nicely tender-- just make sure that none of the veggies start to burn, in case they're more thinly sliced than the rest, or in case your oven has hotspots like mine ! :-)

Let cool slightly, then I slice up a round of quarter-fat fresh mozzarella, or very thinly slice a sharp hard cheese (I like Sbrinz, for example), to pair a little bit of its zesty flavor into the dish, and layer it onto a plate.

Also tasty to add a little bit of balsamic viniagrette dressing on the top at the end, if you like. Enjoy!

Any leftovers are really fantastic in sandwiches-- I recommend spreading some herbed cream cheese on an open face sandwich, topped with a layer of the roasted veggies and warmed up.