Thai Curry...and My Crazy Busy Life

Dear Friends,
I am sincerely sorry for not posting in the past couple months. It has been since July and I feel awful about it. Life has been so busy lately with traveling, my sister's wedding, school starting again, and a random assortment of adventures! Here is a brief list of some of the things I accomplished this summer and fall (thus far):

1. Got a job at an amazing restaurant.
2. Gained the position to be the baker at this restaurant.
3. Built a bike and painted it.
4. Learned how to salsa dance from a native.
5. Hosted falafel parties at my house. Yum...
6. Bought rock-climbing shoes and rock-climbed A LOT.
7. Did trail-running 2-3 times a week.
8. Went boating numerous times.
9. Made 20 pies for my sister's wedding reception.
10. Spent a week and a half with my favorite Indonesian friend: Jane! <3
11. Got really sick with...mono. *cough, cough. (In addition to tonsillitis).
12. Healed completely and now feeling great!
13. Saw one of my favorite bands perform...twice! Imagine Dragons.
14. Moved into an AMAZING house.
15. Got my endurance up and now running 1.5 hours every other day.
16. Went to South Dakota and saw Mount Rushmore.
17. Realized that building a bike wasn't enough...so I bought a brand spankin' new Electra Amsterdam Sport, which I am in LOVE with.
18. Went sky-diving for the first time ever.
19. Hiked Mount Timpanogos.
20. Ran the Dirty Dash. (So much fun. Click to be amazed.)
21. Made many new wonderful friends.
22. Started teaching and tutoring some classes at elementary schools.
23. Got asked to make a wedding cake for a friend (so excited for this!)

And much much more! I have been so busy and having a blast!

PICTURES! I love pictures.

(Sorry for the overload!)

My next-door-neighbor, Craig, who helped me build and paint my bike. I couldn't have done it without him. Seriously, he is a bike master.

The original bike: a classic Trek.
Step 1: Take bike apart and pick out new parts.
Step 2: Sand down and rub with paint-stripper.

Step 3: Wash thoroughly and allow to dry.
Step 4: Paint with spray paints. I chose the colors white and green.
Step 5: After dried, re-assemble bike.
(Please forgive me for not posting a picture of the finished bike. At the moment I am putting on new tires.)

Some friends at my falafel party

Falafel patties with Baba Ganoush hummus, pan-fried potatoes and eggplant, sliced onions and tomatoes; drizzled with a falafel vinaigrette; all wrapped in hand-made flat bread. YUM. For my post on how to make these bad boys, click here :)

My friend, Jane, came to visit me...all the way from Indonesia!

She is so cute.

Me, trying to impersonate her. "1, 2, 5!"

Rock climbing. Love it, oh so much.

My little brother and I at Mount Rushmore.

Some of my brothers at the wedding. Aren't they so ruggedly handsome?

My sister and brothers :)

The pies I made for the wedding reception. These were so much fun to make.

The wedding reception table centerpieces

My beautiful Electra Amsterdam that I bought. It was originally $600, but the guy at the Cyclery gave it to me for a killer deal of $350.

This is me attempting to drink a Coke while the boat is speeding off. I ended up spitting up the soda pop all over myself. Nonetheless, it is a pretty cool picture. I edited the colors in it, and now I am just searching for any Coca-Cola photo contests to submit this to.

SKYDIVING!

Hiking Mount Timpanogos

Girlfriends :)

My best buddies!

WOWZA. Looking back, I realize that I accomplished a lot. I went on many adventures and LOVED every moment.

OKAY, okay...now onto the purpose of this post. Pictures are fun, but I know the real reason you read my blog is for the cooking. So I will not make you wait a moment longer...

CURRY! Vegetable Curry!

I love curry so much that I could probably eat it off a dirty old boot and still love it just the same.

I came up with this curry recipe for my friend Alyne's birthday party. It was quite the hit, and Alyne begged me for the recipe. So this one's for her :)

Panang curry is a type of Thai curry. It is much different than the ordinary red, yellow and green curries. It is both spicy and sweet...and absolutely mouthwatering. You can either buy panang curry paste from the store or you can make it from scratch. (I usually go the easier way and simply buy paste from an Asian market.) I have included a recipe for the paste and a recipe for the dish.

Sarah's Panang Curry

Panang Curry Paste:

• 5 large Chili peppers (red, dried, seeded and soaked)
• 1 teaspoon Galangal (a root), sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh Lemongrass, sliced
• 1 teaspoon Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Cilantro, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 clove Garlic, chopped
• 5 Shallots, sliced
• 1/4 cup Peanuts (optional)
• 12 tablespoons Kaffir Lime (the rind), sliced
• 1 tablespoon Shrimp paste (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Salt (sea salt)
• 2 teaspoons Pepper (white)
• For better flavor, add 1-2 teaspoons Curry Powder

Preparation:

To make the panang curry paste, simply combine all the ingredients and blend them together in a food processor or blender.

The ingredients for the Panang curry recipe are as follows:

Panang Curry (Main Dish)

• Your choice of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or any other meat (or none)
• Your choice of vegetables (zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper, onion, eggplant, carrot, potato etc.)
• 1-2 cans Coconut milk (use light coconut milk if you prefer)
• 1-2 tablespoons Panang Curry Paste (recipe above)
• 1 tablespoon Brown sugar (optional)
• 1 tablespoon Fish sauce (optional)
• 1/2 cup Peas
• 4-6 Kaffir lime leaves or lime juice
• Sweet basil leaves (for garnish)
• Some water (if needed)

Preparation:

Making the curry: Bring the coconut milk, curry paste, sugar, and fish sauce together in a pot, bring to a boil. Next, add your meat and/or vegetables. When almost cooked, add kaffir lime leaves and simmer for an additional ten minutes. Before you remove from heat, make sure the meat or fish is cooked all the way! If you find that you've boiled down your curry too much - and it tastes too thick, salty and concentrated, add some water to thin it out.

Serving the curry: When you're all done, remove everything from the heat, and fill a bowl about halfway with rice, then top with curry. Or, for a more traditional approach, stuff all the rice in a small bowl, then turn the bowl upside down on a plate and tap it until the rice ball falls out (this is an easy way to make a fancy looking rice ball, like the ones you're served in Thai restaurants). Next, pour a good portion of curry into a medium sized bowl, and place it next to the rice ball and serve. You may want to garnish it with sweet basil leaves before serving.

Veggies

Chop, chop, chop.

The result: Sarah's Panang Curry

Oh Cheesecake...

Just a few days ago it was my best friend Katie's birthday. Cheesecake is her absolute favorite dessert. I wanted to make her a cheesecake, but there is only one problem: she lives far far away (okay, well she lives in Canada). So I had two options: make and send her a cheesecake (which would be cheesecake soup by the time she got it), or make her a cheesecake and send her a picture of the masterpiece. Well I chose neither. Actually, my friend Scott and I decided to do something better, much better. We made a cooking show featuring Katie's birthday cheesecake. And wouldn't you know, she loved it! I am sure she would have loved the cheesecake as well, if she would have been able to taste it.

Here is the cooking show Scott and I put together. We titled it: At Home with the Master Chef (very creative, I know). Watch it and try not to drool over your keyboard. (Oh and try not to be jealous of our commercials.)

If I could choose one dessert to eat every day for the rest of my life, I would choose cheesecake. Rich, creamy, sweet. Oh for the stars, so good.

  

"Hey Scottie, you wanna make some cheesecake?"
"Sure."
"Sweet."

And what's a cheesecake without the crust? And a marbled crust at that. I call it the "Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Crust" (say that 5 times fast).

 

 The batter. Eat it raw, you know you want to.

"GOOP!"

"Nice and creamy..."

Hot out of the oven.

Cool for at least 4 hours. Or you could use my method: stick it in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. (Procrastination is key.)

 

Happy Birthday Katie love!

 

Oh hey, I am cheesecake and I am delicious.

A little slice of Heaven.

Peanut Butter and Oreo Cheesecake

• 1 package (18 oz) Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 container (16 oz) sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Finely crush 16 of the cookies. Coarsely chop remaining 14 cookies; set aside.
2. Mix finely crushed cookies and butter. Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan; set aside.
3. Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream and peanut butter; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies. Pour over crust.
4. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around side of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing side of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight or even better--cool in the freezer for 30 minutes to one hour. (Yay for procrastination!) Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator. Don't forget to top with whipped cream. Oh yes.

*Note: if using a normal size (9-inch) pie pan (not a springform), then this recipe will make 2 cheesecakes. You will have enough oreos to make only one crust, but you can make a marbled crust out of unused oreos and graham cracker crumbs. If using a normal pie pan, bake your cheesecakes for 25 to 30 minutes each.

Falafels

Falafels are balls or patties made from ground chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans). Falafels are served in some sort of flat bread--pita bread is popular, but lavash bread can also be used. Falafel balls are topped with greens, vegetables, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces. They originated in Egypt and is often considered the national dish of Israel. These fritters are now found all over the world and are a popular street food.

First things first: make the flatbread.

Flat Bread

(You can call this pita bread, but I think "flat bread" is WAY cooler).

• 1 1/8 cup warm water
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon yeast

1. In a large bowl, mix together the water, sugar, oil, and yeast. Proof the yeast in this mixture for 5 minutes, until it is frothy. 
2. Add in the flour and salt. Knead until smooth, about 10 minutes.
3. Oil the bowl and cover the dough with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. After rising, divide the dough into balls (there should be 8 balls). Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Stretch each ball into a flat disk. Let those rise for another 20-30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Set a cookie sheet into the oven so it gets hot.
6. Bake 2 disks at a time on your heated cookie sheet. Bake these for about 5 minutes, flipping them at about 2 1/2 minutes. They should be slightly golden and should puff up.
7. Immediately place the bread into a bag to keep it soft.

After kneading.

After rising for 1 1/2 hours.

Form into rolls. Let rise again for 30 minutes.

Stretch into disks.

Bake for 5-6 minutes on a hot cookie sheet inside the oven.

Now time for all the fixin's.

 

Baba Ghanoush

Baba ghanoush is an Arab dish of eggplant mashed and mixed with seasonings. The eggplant is roasted (baked) before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smoky taste. It is often eaten at a dip. It is popular in Egypt, and for this reason I decided to make it for my falafel wraps. I decided to make my baba ghanoush more like a roasted eggplant hummus, and oh my heavens, it was divine.

• One eggplant
• 2 cups chickpeas, canned or cooked (and drained)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 dried red chili
• salt and pepper
• paprika and cumin
• 2 tablespoons ketchup (I know this is a weird ingredient to add, but I promise that it is vital to the flavor of this baba ghanoush)

1. Roast the eggplant in the oven at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. 
2. Place in a plastic bag and let sweat for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, puree the chickpeas with the tahini, lemon juice, and garlic in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil. Mix until smooth.
4. Peel the skin from the eggplant. Scoop out the pulp AKA guts :)
5. Once the chickpea mixture is smooth, mix in the eggplant pulp. 
6. Add in the dried red chili. Puree in the cilantro and parsley. Mix in the spices. At last, add in the ketchup.
7. Adjust seasonings to taste.

 Garlic. Very good for you plus. Eat it. Everyday.

 Oh how I love garlic.

Roasted eggplant.

Let sweat in a bag for about 30 minutes.

Peel off the skin and scoop out the guts. Well it looks like guts anyway.

Mix into the Baba Ghanoush.

Falafel Vinaigrette

This stuff is really yummy. Use as a drizzle for your falafel wraps.

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• a couple leaves of fresh mint (or a pinch of dried mint)
• 3 tablespoons honey
• a touch of fresh parsley and cilantro
• 1 dried red chili
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• salt and pepper
• ground cumin and coriander

1. Puree all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Adjust seasonings to taste.

 

Okay, now comes the fun part!

Falafels

• 1 cup bulgur wheat, soaked for 24 hours
• 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours (or canned and drained)
• 1/4 green onions, pureed
• 2 cloves garlic, pureed
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch chili powder (or cayanne)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. In a food processer, chop the chickpeas until they reach the consistency of bread crumbs. This step is vital. Your chickpeas should not be creamy or it will make for mushy falafel balls. Make sure they are not pureed.
2. Place minced chickpeas into a large bowl. 
3. In the food processor, puree the green onions with the garlic. Add to the chickpea mixture.
4. Process the soaked bulgur wheat in the food processor until pasty and sticky. You want your bulgur wheat to be pureed and smooth. This acts as the glue that will hold your falafels together.
5. Place pasty bulgur wheat into chickpea mixture. Stir all of these things together. Mix in the cilantro, parsley, and spices. 
6. Your falafel mixture should be slighty sticky, but not too sticky. You should be able to form balls out of your mixture. 
7. Stir in the baking powder and let mixture sit for 5-10 minutes. The baking powder will fluff up your falafel mixture.
8. At this point, you should test your falafel texture by frying some balls in hot oil. If you like the texture, leave it be. If you want it less mushy, add in a handful of breadcrumbs or cornmeal (even quick oats worked for me). 
9. You can let your falafel mixture rest in the fridge overnight for a more consistent texture.
10. When it is time to eat, form balls out of your falafel mixture and fry in a small pot filled with hot oil. I found that when my stovetop was set to medium to medium-low is when the falafels fried the best. (Note that they should sizzle right as you place them in the oil.)
11. Place a few falafel balls in the hot oil and fry until golden brown to a rich brown color. Retrieve them from the pot with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towels.

*To serve your falafel wraps: Spread some baba ghanoush on a piece of flat bread. Fill your wrap with 3-4 fried falafel balls, some fried potatoes, fried eggplant, chopped tomatoes, fresh parsley, fresh cilantro, caramelized onions, fresh onions, spring mix, etc. Drizzle with the falafel vinaigrette. Eat and feel like you've died and gone to Heaven.

Making the falafels.

Stir it all together

Garnishes and Stuffings: fried potatoes, fried eggplant, caramelized onions, tomatoes, raw onions, cilantro, parsley, baba ghanoush, falafel vinaigrette.

My friend, Tennyson, frying up some falafels.

Raw falafels. Vegetarian/Vegan and healthy.

Fried falafels. Not as healthy, but oh so delicious.

Falafel party!

Yum.

Base layers

Fold like a taco.

 Scrumptious.