I’ve been super busy lately, so I haven’t had too much time for cooking. This past weekend I was on a mediterranean kick, making falafel sandwiches, baba ganoush, and tabouli (I won’t post those recipes here, the falafel was from a mix and the other two just weren’t that exciting). Last night, however, I made some yummy pan-asian food. I made Thai green curry chicken with brown rice and lumpia (Philipino egg rolls) with sweet chili dipping sauce.
The green curry chicken was fairly simple, I used the Thai Kitchen brand green curry paste, mixed with coconut milk, fish sauce, chicken broth, and brown sugar (it’s all outlined for you on the back of the jar). I threw in thinly sliced chicken, bell pepper, onion, garlic, green beans, carrots, and baby corn, and simmered until it was all cooked and tender (putting the green beans and baby corn in later than the others), and added some bean spouts at the end. It was very tasty, a complex flavor instead of the straight heat that you get from some curry mixes.
For the lumpia, I cooked up some ground beef, seasoned with fresh onion, a little bit of italian seasoning, seasoned salt, garlic pepper, and black pepper (do it to your taste, so as not to make it too salty). When that was browned and cooked thoroughly, I turned off the heat and added some frozen peas and carrots (small pieces), bean sprouts, and thinly sliced cabbage (like you use in cole slaw). Using spring roll wrappers from the grocery store, I rolled some of the filling into a long thin cigar-like shape, then put another wrapper down diagonally and rolled again, tucking the ends in to seal in the filling. Then, I fried each roll in oil over high heat (too low of a temperature and you’ll end up with a pale, soggy mess). The sweet chili dipping sauce is available in the Asian food aisle of the grocery store and is very good with egg rolls. So good, in fact, I bet it’d even be good with chicken nuggets or other dippable items. I’m having the leftovers for lunch today, and I’m looking forward to it!
