your mind will be blown the first time you make fresh curry paste. pounding each ingredient in the mortar and pestle and smelling the wafting perfumes that are released is absolutely intoxicating. even if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, the satisfaction of making fresh curry paste from your food processor, blender, whatever it may be, is well worth the effort. your curry will turn out more fragrant, flavourful, and luscious, plus, you can freeze portions of it for a quick weeknight meal! this does require some ingredient hunting, but most of it can be found at your local asian market. if you’re okay with store bought paste, skip to part 2 of the recipe for instructions. serve with steamed white rice, or try our coconut rice for some extra richness.
if you’ve never heard of beef rendang before, let me tell ya - it is going to blow your mind. originating from west sumatra in indonesia, this braised beef dish is simmered in an elixir of coconut milk, punchy aromatics, and fragrant spices until the concoction has reduced enough to fry itself again. yes, you read that right - the velvety and tender beef that took its sweet time to stew begins to fry itself in its own rendered fat and leaves you with an utterly unctuous and saucy beef that is so flavourful, you’ll want to cry. give yourself an afternoon for this one as it takes about 4 hours from start to finish.
a couple of years ago, reid and I spent 3 months backpacking around southeast asia, planning our days around eating all the food we possible could. our mission was to find locals who could give us lessons on what they cooked at home.
We’re always looking for new ways to integrate vegetarian meals into our diets, and as much as we love tofu we’re eager to explore some more imaginative alternate proteins. Lately, that has meant pulse-patties, from black bean burgers to falafels. We love falafels for transforming relatively-boring-but-packed-with-nutrients chickpeas into crisp-on-the-outside-moist-on-the-inside flavour bombs that add substance to rice bowls and keep us full for hours after a meal. They’re traditionally spiced with cumin, coriander, mint and cilantro, but we wondered if they could be done using the same blend of aromatics as our favourite Thai sausage, Sai Ua. The answer is a resounding yes. Full of lemongrass, turmeric, chilies, kaffir lime leaves and galangal, these Thai inspired falafels have a bold flavour that keeps you going back for more. For strict vegetarians, we use powdered dry mushrooms for umami, but if you’re more lenient we recommend a healthy dose of fish sauce.