Gai Lan

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm delighted to now have an Asian market fairly near me, where I can get a host of Pacific Rim produce as well as dry and frozen goods. One of the items I picked up on my first pass was a bunch of gai lan, a.k.a. "Chinese broccoli." It looks a lot like rapini, but it's not bitter at all. I also found, among many other things,  a mega-tub of Thai masaman curry paste, which is sweeter and much milder than panang curry paste, with a darker color.

I got home late, so I decided to go for something quick and easy. I just heated a tablespoon of coconut oil, added a gob of the masaman curry paste, and sizzled it a minute, stirring constantly to keep it from sticking and burning. Then I poured in a can of coconut milk, a spoonful of tamarind paste (seedless!), and a pinch of palm sugar. As soon as I had gotten it thoroughly mixed smooth and simmering, I added the gai lan, chopped crosswise in roughly one-inch sections. As the greens began to wilt, I added a handful of raw peanuts (from the same market). Then I let it bubble away for about three minutes, until the stalks were tender-crisp. On the side, I reheated some leftover quinoa, and dished up a little of that Panang Napa Slaw.

That was it. Bada-bing! Dinner in under fifteen minutes. To be honest, it wasn't near spicy enough for me; fortunately, I had some of my homemade sriracha sauce on hand to save the day. If you want the recipe, it's in my first cookbook, Omega 3 Cuisine. If you don't want to spring for the book, you can also find it at the bottom of this post. You're welcome.