Asparagus, Zucchini and Chickpea Green Curry

 


This is the second time I've made this tasty recipe.  Great for a quick weeknight meal...even faster to make if you happen to have pre-cooked grain in your freezer.  We ate this over rice last night, but I loved it over red quinoa the first time I made it.  Easy peasy.  If you have a hard time finding kaffir lime leaves, you can use lime zest for a pale approximation of the flavor kaffir leaves would impart.  I had to sub the first time I made the recipe. When you DO find the leaves, know that you can keep them in the freezer in a good ziplock bag so they'll last a lot longer.  Was thrilled that Central Market in Austin finally had them again the other day!  Apologies for the crumby IPhone pix...

Printable Recipe
Asparagus, Zucchini and Chickpea Green Curry:
(Closet Cooking's blog)

Servings: makes 4 servings

1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste (Closet Cooking has a homemade recipe for this, I just used Thai Kitchen's paste)
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk (I've used full fat and light with great results either way)
2 tablespoons fish sauce (I've never used it before, but you could sub a vegetarian version of fish sauce)
 juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoons sugar (I used coconut palm sugar)
2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced (I prefer to add the leaf in whole and fish it out at the end of cooking)
1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 pound zucchini, sliced
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and sliced
1 handful Thai basil, or basil
red Thai chilies, sliced
Sriracha sauce, to serve and spice things up a bit more




Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
Add the curry paste and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, lime leaves and chickpeas, bring to a near boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the zucchini and asparagus and simmer until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve garnished with fresh basil and sliced red chilies.