Subject: VEGAN: 4-Mushroom Thai curry (repost)

From: [email-masked] (Chuck Narad)
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 1994 09:57:00 GMT

Thai curries are especially fagrant; in addition to the usual curry
spices, they contain lemon grass and coconut milk.  Thai curry tends
to be hot (hey, I *like* food that makes me sweat! :-) but the coconut
milk tempers the heat, allowing other flavors through.  The basic
recipe here is infinitely variable; this is a version I made for a
crowd last Saturday night (but they're still tasting it, hee hee).

Sorry about all of the cans, but most of this stuff is not available
fresh; if you have access to a good oriental grocery, many of the
cans disappear.

        4-Mushroom Thai Curry
        -------------------------

        2 chunks fresh wheat gluten, drained and cut into 1/2" cubes
        1 can water chestnuts, sliced
        1 can bamboo shoots (or a chunk of fresh), sliced
        1 can straw mushrooms, drained, rinsed, and sliced
        1 can golden button mushrooms, drained and rinsed
        1 small handful Dried Black Fungus
        1 cup fresh oyster mushrooms (or 1 can), sliced
        1 can yellow Thai Curry Paste
        1 bunch fresh basil
        1 can coconut milk
        1 stalk lemon grass, cut into 1" sections (optional)
        peanut or olive oil
        Thai sweet chili sauce (optional)
        1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)
        cooking sake

   and your choice among:
        carrots
        broccoli
        onion
        zucchini
   cut into stir-fry size pieces.

Soak the black fungus in a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes while
prepping the vegetables.  Marinate  the gluten in thai sweet chili sauce
(available in oriental markets as a chicken marinade), just enough to
get all of the chunks wet; stir occasionally.  Open, drain, and slice all
of the canned ingredients; slice the fresh ones to stir-fry size.

Remove most of the stems from the basil, and chop the remainder
of the basil medium-sized.

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a small pot; add the curry paste, and stir-fry
it for a few minutes.  Add the basil; stir until it wilts, then stir in the
coconut milk and reduce the heat to low.  Stir this occasionally while
stir-frying.

Drain and rinse the black fungus, and cut to strips if neccessary.

Heat the wok, then add 1-2 Tbs oil; add the garlic (if desired), then
stir-fry the gluten for a few minutes.  Next, add each of the other
ingredients, from heaviest to lightest, stiring each for a minute or two
before adding the next.  Every 2-3 ingredients, add a splash of sake
to the wok for sweet steam.  When the vegetables are almost ready,
pour the curry sauce over them, and stir for a few minutes.

Serve over basmati or calrose rice.

Prep time: about 40 minutes, unless the rice takes longer.

If you like hotter curries (3 or 4 star, as they say in thai
restaurants) add a small amount of vietnamese tuong ot
(garlic-chili paste) to the sauce before adding it to the wok.

enjoy!
chas/

------------------------------
Chuck Narad -- diver/adventurer/engineer