Tuesday dinner- Gado Gado

Ok, so I had lots of fresh veggies to use up and this is my new favorite dish! This recipe is in two of my cookbooks - Gorgeously Green Diet, Sophie Uliano and Honga's Lotus Petal, Honga Im Hopgood. Honga's is a pan-asian restuarant in Telluride, Colorado - one of my favorites but a little pricey (hence the cookbook). The only couple of times I made this recipe, I used the Honga's cookbook.

If you're not familiar with Gado Gado (I wasn't), it's an Indonesian dish that uses peanut butter and coconut milk. Depending on the ingredients you use, this dish can be made gluten free and is dairy free.

Here is the recipe from Honga's with my notes. Don't be scared at the size of the recipe- it's mostly veggies.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unprocessed peanut butter (I used Jif because that's what I had)
14 ounces canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (I used green)
1/3 cup chicken stock or water (the first time I made this, I used veggie stock and accidentally used 2 cups- long story- but it still turned out delicious, just more soupy. This time, I just used water)
2 tablespoons high-temperature cooking oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed (I used the diced garlic in a jar)
14 ounces tofu, patted dry and cut into 1/4-inch cubes or 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces. (First time, I used coconut curry tempeh and it was delicious! This time, I just went straight veggies)
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup broccoli florets
1 bell pepper, diced into bite-size pieces
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups packed raw baby spinach
2 tablespoons crushed roasted peanuts (I used cashews)

With the veggies, I've used whatever I have on-hand. Last night, I used frozen edamame, fresh broccoli, fresh cauliflower, orange bell pepper and fresh carrots.

Directions:
Combine the peanut butter, coconut milk, lemon juice, curry and stock/water together in a bowl and blend well.
Preheat wok or skillet over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Drizzle the oil down the sides of the wok and immediately add the onion and garlic (if you're using fresh), stirring frequently. Immediately add the tofu, chicken or tempeh. Stir for 1 minute before adding the veggies. Stir well.
Pour the peanut butter and coconut milk mixture into the wok/skillet. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and stir until it dissolves.
When the sauce begins to simmer (and the chicken is cooked through), turn off the heat and plate on top raw spinach. Top with nuts and serve with rice. I serve it with jasmine rice.

Love this dish! I didn't take a photo this time but I'll try to take one tomorrow when I eat it for lunch. Thank you Honga's!

I'm Jess

Hello. So I'm hijacking our blog for a little while since I'm unemployed. Get ready for random! My husband and I differ in that he likes everything in chronological order and I put things out there when they pop into my head.
I'll continue to post photos of our adventures but I'm also going to post new recipes and new projects. Before I get started, there are 2 things you have to know about me:
1) I've never been a cook. Through college and post-college, my specialty was boxed mac n cheese, hot dogs, pancakes and grilled cheese. Jared is the cook in this family and I've skated by for the last 6 years, whipping up grilled cheese and tomato soup. Over the last few years, I've slowly progressed to crock pot recipes and stuffed french toast.
Now that I'm unemployed, I decided to step up and learn to cook better. We're also watching our grocery bills so I've expanded my recipe repertoire to include less meat and more veggies. I've also experimented with less gluten, gluten free, tempeh and black beans. Luckily, both my husband will pretty much try anything so it's easy to experiment.
2) I love to refinish and paint furniture and a good wall mural. I just repainted an old dresser so I'll be uploading photos of that also. I'm always up for a good DIY project so be on the lookout!

Here we go!