W. Nieke, CC 3.0 BY
I hope I’ve gotten the presentation right this time…. I can only hope so. I like to reward myself for something stressful or otherwise challenging by preparing a dinner for myself, whose ingredients I find tasty. And since I lean towards Asian Cuisine – Thai, in particular – I usually end up with something inspired by the former. And sure enough I did so this time again.
There are three slight modifications to the way I have fixed this one previously: Next to regular basil I’ve used “red basil”, which tastes a bit more “earthy”, “heavy”, “centered” (If it were about a wine varietal, I’d say it leans towards red wine as opposed to the very fresh, “spring garden like” taste of regular basil (and not Thai basil, either, which I haven’t tasted just yet, at least not at home and if at a restaurant, then I must have not been aware of it).
The other modification is that I added some of said basil right when searing shallots and natural rice along with my regular choice of spices. And third, I also added a pinch of thyme.
Something has me think that it came out slightly different, slightly better this time. But it might just be my imagination and the fact that I ingested it all more consciously, in a more appreciating manner than usually (I still watched a movie as I ate, but also paid actual attention to the taste – and said a little prayer of gratitude before “digging in”.)
These were the ingredients:
- 1 tbsp. of peanut-flavored oil
- about 1/2 a shallot (a fairly large one, though) diced into cube-like pieces
- natural rice (but not “wild rice”, just kind that isn’t all bleached to white by removing the outmost layer)
- a larger piece of sweet potato diced to little sticks
- about 1/2 tomato (a smaller one)
- 1/2 fairly long pointed red pepper, diced to thin stripes
- a few chicoree leaves, diced into thin stripes as well (about 2 tbsp.)
- sea-salt with chilli flakes
- 3 small dried and then minced Thai chillies (I leave the seeds in there, which adds pungence)
- some basil while searing the shallot, rice and sweet potato sticks
- some red basil while searing
- fresh ground black bell pepper
- about 1-2 teaspoons of curcuma
- half a can of coconut milk (about 200 ml)
- 1/2 teaspoon of (good) honey to cut some of the acidity of the curcuma and make it blend better
- minced peanuts (unsalted)
- a pinch of thyme
- about 2 tbsp. of smoked salmon, sliced/minced
I usually start by heating the oil at fairly high temperature while quickly adding shallots, brown rice and the sweet potatoe sticks. I keep searing all that while adding a good deal of spices (I like it hot). It is only after the rice has a nice brown tan along with the potatoe sticks that I turn the heat down a bit, just above a nice simmer and keep dicing and mincing and adding away. Toss and turn frequently, so the rice won’t burn or the potatoe sticks… oh well… stick… 😉 O:)
After having tanned the rice and after having added all the other ingredients, I usually crank the heat up a bit again, while opening the can of coconut milk and adding it quickly, then I keep stirring (tossing and turning won’t work so well with fluids…). I then blend it all in and it is only briefly before finishing up that I add the (smoked) salmon as well as the half teaspoon of honey. Keep stirring and tasting and adding flavors according to taste and blend it all well, but don’t wait too long so that for example the sweet potatoe sticks don’t become too soft. (Anything around 5 – 7 minutes tops tends to work well for my taste).
Add some basil for decoration and – enjoy!
Well, if you try this yourself, feel free to let me know what you think! 🙂
singlecuisine 