Adventures, Part II

Now it's time for a much less exact recipe, an adventure in which I exercised my knowledge of complimentary flavours in the creation of a simple-yet-delicious stirfry. I've decided to call it the "Big Coconut Stirfry" by virtue of the sauce's coconut milk base, but the other elements of the sauce are what truly made it delcious.



To start with, my friend (who I'd invited for dinner/to feed my experimental cooking to) and I chopped up a whole whack of vegetables. I'm sure you could use any combination of veggies for this dish, but I was quite happy with how the colours, tastes and textures of the following ones cooperated:

• Broccoli (cut into smallish buds, boiled for a few minutes to tenderize)
  
• Cauliflower (cut like the broccoli, boiled with the broccoli)
  
• Shitake muchrooms (cut into strips)
  
• Red pepper (cut in strips)
  
• Baby corn (cut in pieces)
  
• Swiss chard (cut in strips)
  
• Sugar snap peas (cut in half)
  

I also cut up some extra firm tofu into rectangles about half a centimetre thick and set out the ingredients for the sauce:

• 1/2 can of coconut milk
  
• Curry powder (mine is medium heat)
  
• Soy Sauce
  
• Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
  

Once all that was done I took a moment to start up the rice cooker, which contained sweet rice, water and some coconut milk that I hoped would turn magically into sticky rice. Sadly it didn't work out perfectly, but the end result was pretty close to my desired outcome, though a little soupy (less water next time). I'll probably do an entry dedicated solely to sticky rice/rice cookers in the near future, so keep an eye out for that.

Now back to the main event. All amounts have been estimated, as I didn't measure any of the ingredients in the heat of the moment, so feel free to toy with them and adjust to your own taste.

After heating up my wok (I cook on a gas stove, but I'd set an electric to high or around 8-9) with a liberal dollop - about 2 tablespoons - of sesame oil (heated until it was smoking a bit), I tossed the tofu in and let it fry for a moment before adding three tablespoons of soy sauce and some sweet chili sauce (1.5 tbsp or so) and let the tofu sizzle for around three minutes. Once it started browning, I added the broccoli, cauliflower and red pepper and a quarter cup of water and tossed everything until the sauce that formed while the tofu was cooking was thoroughly coating the lot of it.

I then added a sprinkle of the curry powder, maybe 1/2 a tsp of it, and mixed up the stirfry again before adding the baby corn, mushroom and swiss chard, letting the new ingredients cook until the chard grew limp. The half can of coconut milk was added next, along with another helping of curry powder - at least a teaspoon - and everything mixed up again. The next few minutes were spent watching the stirfry simmer and adding a little bit more sweet chili sauce and some more curry powder until the sauce was flavourful enough for my liking. At the last minute I threw in the sugar snap peas, let them cook for maybe two minutes, then turned off the heat, mixed everything up one last time, and ladled the stirfry into bowls.



The sticky rice was served on the side in seperate, smaller bowls, and thankfully the entire meal (ice cream for dessert included) was a hit.