Red Sweet Potato Curry

While completely delicious, I made this a little too spicy. The recipe called for thai red curry and I just used the thai curry paste I happened to have in my refrigerator that was given to me by my friend Carla. I think it might be green curry. The combination of sweet potatoes, coconut milk, tofu, bok choy, and sweet scallions was fantastic. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, either - only about 45 minutes. I think this would make a nice dish to introduce people to tofu. There is so much flavor that they won't really focus on the fact that they are eating tofu.

Here's what you do:

Start some rice - 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of salted water.

Cut up one pound of sweet potatoes into bite sized pieces. The recipe didn't say to peel the sweet potatoes, so I took a chance and left the skins on. It worked out beautifully. If they're anything like regular potatoes, we probably got more vitamins by leaving the skins on. Steam the sweet potatoes over boiling water. This was supposed to take 20 minutes, but I think it was more like 15 minutes.

Heat one can coconut milk with one cup of water. Add 1-2 teaspoons red thai curry. I didn't measure very well. Next time I'll be more conservative. Chop 1/2 cup cilantro and add to coconut milk. When the sweet potatoes are done, add them to the coconut mixture. I kept this over very low heat.

Heat a little oil (recipe called for peanut oil, I used olive oil) and fry cubed tofu until the water is all cooked out of it and it becomes golden. Salt it and add soy sauce (mushroom soy sauce preferred, but I used regular soy sauce). Let all the tofu get glazed by the soy sauce and then dump it into the coconut milk mixture.

Slice 6 shallots into rounds. Saute them until sweet and golden. Meanwhile, simmer baby bok choy in salted water, just a few minutes.

Serve sweet potato curry over rice. Garnish with shallots, bok choy, cilantro and lime wedges. This is so delicious.

This meal doesn't need anything else with it. The recommended wine is a Pinot Gris from Alsace, but we didn't try that since we have given up alcohol for lent. I'll try it next time I make this dish.

Things I'd do differently next time: MEASURE the curry paste. Use only 1 or 1.5 teaspoons. Taste for salt before serving. (Duh. When am I going to learn this?)

Approximate cost to prepare:
1 cup rice - $.50 (?)
1 pound sweet potatoes - $1.00
1 can coconut milk - $1.80
2 tsp. curry paste - negligible
cilantro (1/2 bunch?) - $.25
1 carton tofu - $1.25
6 shallots - $1.50
4 baby bok choy - $2.25
1 lime - $.25
oil, salt, soy sauce - negligible
TOTAL - $8.80 for 4+ servings

By the way, this recipe checks 2 recipes off my list. I made basmati rice, which is in the basics section.