Recipe: Thai-style Zirad Green Curry

Zelda Pande's Thai-Style Zirad Green Curry -- lightly-fried veggies simmered in a green coconut gravy -- had with steamed basmati rice, makes for a light meal.

Thai-Style Zirad Green Curry

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 1 medium red onion, chopped in chunks
• 8-9 large pods garlic
• 1 long green chilly
• Handful fresh green dhania or coriander or cilantro
• 1 tsp dhania or coriander powder
• 10 curry leaves
• 1 ½-inch piece ginger
• 200 ml carton coconut cream
  
• Salt
• Approximately ½ cup water
• Fresh lime or kaffir leaves or dried leaves or 1 tsp kaffir leaf paste, optional
• 6-inch piece lemon grass
• Juice of ½ a lime
• 3 tbsp chopped spring onion greens
• ½ of a zucchini
• 10-12 mushrooms
• ½ of large orange carrot, peeled
• 200 gm or a small head of broccoli
• 12-14 snow peas or mangetout, available at gourmet grocers
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For garnish and serving

• 1 red chilly, split lengthwise
• Few fresh kaffir leaves, optional
• Sriracha sauce

Method

• In a blender/mixer grind ¾ of 200 ml carton of coconut cream, dhania powder, ginger, chilly, green dhania, onion, salt, garlic, curry leaves.
  Keep aside.
• On a cutting board or firm ledge, using a pestle, pound the lemon grass piece till flat and cut into two.
  Keep aside.
• Chop the broccoli into small (¾-inch large) florets and discard the fat stem pieces.
• Chop the heads of the mushrooms into fours and the stems into two lengthwise.
• Chop the ½ piece of zucchini, skin on, lengthwise and then into thin half-moon slices.
• Julienne the ½ piece of carrot.
• Top and tail the snow peas and cut into 1-inch pieces.
• In a large frying pan, preferably non-stick, fry first the broccoli florets in the olive oil, over medium heat for 5 minutes.
  Add the mushrooms and zucchini next and fry 4-5 minutes more.
  Add the snow peas and fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Now add the ground green paste, pieces of lemon grass, kaffir leaves/paste, water and simmer covered over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
  Add the remaining coconut cream, carrots, spring onion greens, lemon juice and simmer for 1-2 minutes more and adjust water.
  Take off heat.
• Remove the kaffir leaves and lemon grass pieces.
  Garnish with the red chilly and fresh kaffir leaves.
  Serve with steamed long-grained basmati rice, made with minimum water, and drizzle sriracha sauce on top for added spice and zest.
  Or have with rice flour pancakes or rice noodles or healthier grains like brown rice, quinoa or couscous.

Note: Jains can swap the juilenned carrot for two chopped baby eggplants. Fresh ginger can be replaced with ginger powder (which is part of the Jain diet) and the garlic, onion omitted and use a pinch of hing or asafoetida instead.

Non-vegetarians may prefer to dunk in, in addition to the vegetables, 8-10 large prawns, peeled, deveined, head and tail removed, when the veggies are simmering in the green coconut cream gravy.