Today's spice is: Dried Kaffir Lime Leaves
Last year my friend Jane got me a surprise subscription to
Saveur Magazine, and even though it's a very meaty affair, I still enjoy it. I like that there is so much emphasis on international foods and that it's very much about the culture of "authentic" cooking - whether it's Thai street food or Down South cookin'. So, when I spotted a set of recipes from Malaysia, I started looking for things I could veganize.
I settled on
Rendang Ayam - Spiced Chicken Soy Curl Rendang, a curry rich with spices and coconut milk. The main reason I picked it out was because it called for Kaffir Life Leaves, and I've had this one little baggie of dried kaffir lime leaves sitting around in my freezer for a while now. The baggie is open, so evidently I've used them before, but I don't remember when. This dish turned out quite well. Given that I was using Soy Curls, on a weeknight, I skipped the step where you cook the curry for 2 1/2 hours. Instead, it was a pretty easy weeknight dinner for me. I liked this dinner and its complex flavors, but Mr. Vegan Eats and Treats was right when he said it should have veggies in it. (of course, we had veggies on the side, but it's not always the same). He was coming up with all sorts of suggestions: peas! cauliflower! green beans! Even though he never cooks, he has a really good palette for things like that.
Just look at all the beautiful whole spices that went into this dinner!!
Dried Kaffir lime leaves, whole cinnamon, star anise, and cardamom pods.
I settled on Rendang Ayam - Spiced 
I love the sound of kaffir lime leaves, I'll have to try to find some.
ReplyDeleteThose spices are beautiful, and that meal sounds pretty yum! I like Mr. VE&T's ideas for veggie additions.
ReplyDeleteYour spicy posts are really inspiring, Amey! And this this meal looks delicious :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks so good. I still flick through non-vegan cookbooks and magazines for flavour inspirations too!
ReplyDeleteSoy Curls! Kaffir Lime Leaves! Perfection!
ReplyDeleteWow- looked so good. An awesome excuse to go spice shopping:)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really good. I love the idea of dried kaffir lime leaves- I've never seen those. I have a jar of them stored in some kind of brine in my fridge, but dried seems much more convenient.
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