Thai (Tie, tye, Ty) Food

As a cook (and in other places ;), I like to think of myself as experimental. Let's be honest, I was raised on Lebanese food punctuated with West Texas, home-grown goods. Whether I was eating Kibbi, grape leaf rolls, pork chops or good-ole Texas steak, I was always comfortable in the kitchen helping Mom prep the dishes. My twenties welcomed French food (merci Ina and Julia) and some dabbling in Italian (grazie Giada). However, there is one cuisine that sends shivers down my spine, freezes my spatula-holding hand, and causes ice cream-eating anxiety attacks, and that is...Thai food. So complex, so many ingredients, soooooo hard. HOWEVER, this weekend, with time and my hubby to boot, I decided to tackle the beast. So, I looked through one of my FAVORITE APPS, Epicurious, and I found a recipe for Grilled Salmon with Thai Curry and Basmati Rice. The recipe was first published in (the now defunct) Gourmet Mag in 1997. So we chopped, we cooked...basically we danced in the kitchen, and at the end of the day (night) we both took a bite,turned towards each other, smiled and gave each other a HIGH FIVE!!!! This recipe was DELISH!!!! Wowza. Here it is:


Ingredients

For Rice:
1 Cup of basmati rice
1 1/2 cup of water
2 Tbsp of butter

For Sauce:
1 1/8 tsp minced gingerroot
1 1/8 tsp minced garlic
2 1/4 tsp peanut oil
3/4 tsp ground coriander seed
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1 1/4 Cups well-stirred coconut milk
3 Tbsp tomato puree
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp packed dark brown sugar

For vegetables:
3 Cups finely shredded green cabbage
3/4 Cup julienne strips of seeded cucumber
3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar, not seasoned
4 six-ounce pieces salmon fillet
Olive oil for brushing salmon
1/4 Cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Preparation:

Make rice:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (Fahrenheit that is)

In a saucepan with an ovenproof lid bring rice, water and butter to boil. Bake rice, covered, in middle of oven 12 minutes. Keep warm.

Make sauce:
In a heavy saucepan sauté gingerroot and garlic in oil over moderately high heat, stirring, until golden. Add coriander, curry powder, curry paste, paprika, and cumin and sauté, stirring, 1 minute, or until fragrant. Whisk in coconut milk, tomato purée, soy sauce, and brown sugar and bring just to a boil. Remove pan from heat and keep warm.

Prepare vegetables:
In a bowl toss together all vegetable ingredients.
Prepare grill.
Brush salmon with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Grill salmon on an oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals until just cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side.
Put rice in center of 4 plates and arrange salmon on top. Top salmon with vegetables and spoon sauce around it. Sprinkle vegetables with peanuts.