Quick Thai Peanut Curry
This curry is quick to pull together. Kids love it and it's usually enjoyed by those who are curry-adverse. If you like Massaman curry, you'll like this.
Quick Thai Peanut Curry
1 1/2 cup plain, water or unsalted bone broth (cool broth or water will combine with flour more easily)
1 tsp. Care Curry Seasoning
2 tsp. Zen Seasoning
1 Tbsp. flour of your choice
2 Tbsp. organic, good quality soy sauce, or alternative. Use what you feel comfortable with. Here are some options: Bragg's Liquid Aminos, Nama Shoyu Soy Sauce, coconut aminos, fish sauce, tamari etc. Depending on what you choose to use, you may need to adjust it slightly, as some options are more salty than others.
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. pure, organic maple syrup
1/4 cup organic peanut butter, or another nut butter *see notes
1 tsp. organic sesame oil
1/8-1/4 tsp. red chili flakes, optional. You could also serve red pepper flakes on the side, so people can add for their own desired spice level.
3 cups total, quick cooking vegetables:
5 Minute Cooking Vegetables: Bell pepper, summer squash, mushrooms, onion, thin asparagus, eggplant, okra, sugar snap peas, garlic and ginger, or frozen vegetables that have been rinsed and patted dry.
30 Second Cooking Vegetables: Diced left-over baked potato- in fact, that is one of my favorite things to include. They dice up nicely when they are cold. All leafy greens such as kale, collard greens, bok choy, cabbage, chard, spinach, watercress, mustard greens, and herbs, as well as snow/Chinese peas and bean sprouts. If you want to add carrots, add some carrot ribbons, or shredded carrots at this time.
1 cup diced, cooked chicken. For a vegetarian version, add an additional cup of vegetables.
1/3 cup cashews, optional
Directions:
Mix together Care, Zen Seasoning and flour. Add broth, or water and mix well. Add soy sauce, lime juice, maple syrup, peanut butter, sesame oil, and chili flakes, if desired, and mix well.
Heat an extra large cast iron skillet, or wok (*see notes below) or two standard cast iron skillets to high for about one minute. You will know it's hot enough when you flick water in the pan and it immediately sizzles and evaporates.
Set timer for 5 minutes and immediately add 5 minute cooking vegetables to skillet. Spread vegetables around so they are in a single layer covering the bottom of the pan. Vegetables should not be crowded, or they will just steam and get soggy. It's better to use a too big pan, or two pans than one that's too small.
Flip the vegetables every 30 seconds - 2 minutes. This depends on how hot your stove cooks. If it doesn't cook very hot, flip every 1-2 minutes. If it cooks very hot, flip every 30 seconds. When vegetables get a little sear mark where they are touching the pan, it's time to flip.
Mix sauce again, right before adding to curry.
With 2 minutes left to go, pour sauce slowly around the edge of the pan. It should bubble up immediately as you are adding it. The pan is hottest around the edges and that's the best place to pour in the sauce. If you pour the whole sauce mixture in the center at once, it will drop the temperature too fast. This will necessitate cooking longer, increasing the likelihood of soggy vegetables.
With 30 seconds left to go, add cooked chicken, 30 second cooking vegetables, and cashews.
Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
Serve over brown rice, millet, quinoa, or 100% whole grain brown rice noodles.
Notes
It is important to use an extra large cast iron skillet, or wok, for this recipe as other types of cookware do not retain the heat well enough for this to cook quickly.
If you don't have cast iron cookware, check out this post for how to get a great deal on cast iron.