IAVW - Thai, Collection 2

Dear foodies,

I thought you would be mesmerized by the recipes in the first half of the IAVW round-up, and would need time to recover until I came back with the second posting....But no, you wanted all of it and soon! So here's the second and last part of the It's a Vegan World - Thai recipe collection and, also the end of my first hosting, sob sob....! All of you made cooking Vegan Thai food sound like a breeze, so many delicious entries, and no where was the taste compromised - the dishes were flavorful, hearty and satisfying.

Now that you are done savoring the first two courses, and hopefully bookmarked several already, lets move on with the meal. Below are some hearty rice and noodles to fill you up and decadent desserts and drinks to cool your palates after the fiery dishes we've had so far :) Like in the previous post, click on the text link or the image to get re-directed to the blog that houses the recipe. I hope I have all of your delicious entries in here, if not, do send me an email and I will have it in immediately. You can browse through the Italian edition of IAVW here, and the Mexican round-up here.

You've been the best guests I've had, reqd absolutely no scurrying around cleaning the house before/after the party ;) I can't wait to host again, but until then, happy cooking ! Feel free to leave a link to any future Thai dishes you might make, in the comment section of these posts to serve as future reference.

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Thai Noodle & Rice preparations
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Asha made a fabulous Pad Thai @ Foodie's Hope

Lavi choose a yummy Eggplant curry to serve over noodles @ Home Cook's Recipes

Manjusha served up spicy thai noodles @ Inspired Cooking

Vani recreated her favorite dish that resulted in this yummy bowl of Thai noodles @ Mysoorean

Vishali has some yummy Stir fry noodles for us @ Food Lovers

Uma made a scrumptious Pad Thai @ Vegan Orbit

Vaishali has some fabulous Noodles in Coconut sauce @ Holy Cow!

She also made a simple and tasty Coconut Rice to go with her curried chickpeas @ Holy Cow!

Aqua added a creative spin and made a Olive Rice @ Served with Love

Pavani made a thai flavored Fried Rice for us @ Cook's Hideout

Meera made a flavorful Coconut Rice @ Enjoy World Food

Archy made a flavor packed Fried rice for us with the yummy green curry paste she made earlier @ her Recipe Book

I had to grab this bowl of colorful Fried rice inspired by thai flavors from Soma @ eCurry

after I made a Fried rice using home-made penang curry paste :)

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Coolers & Desserts
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To cool us down from all the spice Uma has a refreshing Lime Iced Tea @ Essence of Andhra

Priya Narasimhan has a plate full of colorful Coconut Pancakes for us to enjoy @ Priya's Vegetarian Recipe's

SJ plated decadent Sticky rice with Mangoes @ Masala Vade

Priya also made a cool Lychee & Coconut soup @ Easy N Tasty Recipe's

If you weren't already tempted Abbirami made some more Sticky rice with Mangoes for us @ Soulful Creations
Nirmala made a exotic summer dessert, chilled Coconut milk with Rose petals @ Amma's Special

Now hit the gym to burn all that food you just had (or sleep it off ;) ) and have a fun weekend!

IAVW - Thai, Collection 1

Dear foodies,

All of you were eager to see the final round-up of Thai recipes floating around the blogosphere last month. So here is the first of a two-part series for 'It's a Vegan World - Thai' round-up. When I very hesitantly announced the event, you guys assured me that I had no reason to fret, and you went ahead and proved it too. thank you, Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed hosting the event, and it made me wonder why I was scared to do it all these months :D I had fun reading your emails and getting touch with you and the fabulous recipes you sent my way made me want to go make it right that night :D

The essence of the IAVW event that Vaishali started earlier this year, was to urge all of us to try out new cuisines, challenge ourselves and, add our unique twists to the recipes at the sametime. Many of you mentioned that it was your first time bringing Thai food into your kitchens. I too ventured into making the curry pastes and some lesser familiar recipes from the great cuisine and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I still have a few more recipes bookmarked and ready to be tried in the coming days, I'm sure its the same with most of you too. I hope this post gives you many more ideas and continues to inspire you.

If you submitted a recipe and don't see it here, accept my apologies right now :) Please send me an email telling me about it, I will update the post asap with the entry. I am breaking the round-up into two posts for convenience, this one has all the salads, soups, appetizers and curries. You can either click on the text link or the image to take you to the blog that houses the recipe. Happy cooking!

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Salads, Soups & Appetizers
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Cham made crunchy corn fritters and a mango salad @ her Spice Club

Kalai shared with us another crunchy Mango salad recipe @ Little taste buds
Vaishali's peanut butter dressing on her Vegetable salad is a must try, @ Holy Cow! Thank you so giving me that chance to host!
Graziana made scrumptious fried bananas @ Erbe in Cucina which means, Cooking with herbs :)
Srilakshmi made a crunchy mouthful called Miang Khum @ Annapurna
Sonu, the new chef on the block serves up a Carrot, Capsicum and Celery soup @ Seven Spice
Priya makes us a nutritious Carrot soup @ her Easy n Tasty recipes

A & N @ Delectably Your's made my fav Thai soup, Tom Kha, that I sadly forgot to include in the round-up! Sorry guys :( 

I made some thai inspired fresh spring rolls and some grilled tomato salsa & peanut dip to go along.

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Thai Curries
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Sia used a pineapple & tofu in her flavorful Yellow curry and recipe for the paste @ Monsoon spice
Vani made a mouth watering Massaman curry for us @ Mysoorean
Varsha made a Thai curry with homemade curry paste @ Vegan Treats
Bee and Jai whipped up a thai pineapple curry, Gaeng Koa Supparod, @ Jugalbandi. The recipe for the paste is in there too.
Soma used her homemade curry paste to make a Massaman curry @ eCurry
Pavani made a yummy Yellow curry @ Cook's Hideout
Miri made a spicy Red curry @ Peppermill
Archy has a flavor packed Green curry paste for us in her Recipe book
Priya made a Green curry with tofu and bell peppers @ Easy n Tasty recipes

Indrani has a unique recipe for Stewed pumpkin @ Appyayan

Vaishali added a flavorful twist on chickpeas with her Curried Chickpeas @ Holy Cow!

Sweatha has a yummy Red curry @ Tasty Curry Leaf

Uma serves us a nutritious Vegetable Medley @ Vegan Orbit

Maya adds her twist to the Thai Curry @ Konkan World
Arch has a fabulous Massaman curry and a must try burnt garlic rice to go along with it @ The Yum Factor
Anita, a non-blogger sent us a lovely Massaman curry with broccoli and tofu,

And now an entry thats a little closer to my heart. My dear friend Srikanth (whose b'day we celebrated here) made a spicy hot Thai Red Curry exclusively for this event. This was also the first time he was making it. He served it to his frnds at a potluck and got rave reviews :) Thank you! He used store bought curry paste and a ton of veggies - green & red bell peppers, onions, carrots, baby corn, broccoli, water chestnuts & bamboo shoots. So there, all you cooks who haven't tried thai food at home yet, here's proof that its simple!
As for me, I too discovered the potency of home-made Red and Green curry pastes.

and added a yummy Thai style Chickpeas to my go-to recipe list

through my lens

Dear foodies,

~ The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. - Bern Williams ~

On Saturday I took my camera along with me for a walk, to capture the gorgeous scenes that Spring brings along with it - lush green of the lawns, tender leaves pushing their way out of dead stems and blossoming flowers & baby buds. So here are a few photos with a sprinkling of quotes I saw online and liked.

~ The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. ~Arthur Rubenstein ~

~Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" - Robin Williams ~

~Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. - Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke ~

You will love the View On Black
click here for more

Have a fabulous week ahead!

Brocolli-Tofu Massaman - non-blogger entry

Dear foodies,

As I round-up all the lovely recipes you guys cooked up for IAVW -Thai, I am going to let someone else indulge you in one more delicious Thai recipe. Anita is a non-blogger, and she will be filling in the void for Mussaman Curry after the penang curry fried rice and red & green curries. Below is a little intro and recipe (along with a photo) that Anita sent to me through email.


Brocolli-Tofu Massaman - by Anita Ayela

"Massaman Curry (gaeng matsaman) is a Southern Thai curry which has a lot of Indian influence. Massaman is an old way of saying "Muslim", for many of the dry spices were carried to Thailand by early Muslim traders. Like Indian curries, this curry is heavy on dry spices and very aromatic. It’s typically served with rice or roti"

Brocolli-Tofu Massaman

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons curry paste (method below)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil/sesame oil
• 1 cup tofu cubes
• 1/2 cup boiled potato pieces
• 1 cup Broccolli florets
• 1 cup onions or peeled whole shallots (sambhar onions)
• 4 cardamom pods whole
  
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1" piece of cinnamon stick
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tamarind paste

Curry paste

• 10 big dried chilies
• roasted, 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• roasted 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• roasted 1 teaspoon cumin seeds,
• roasted 2 cloves,
• roasted 2 cardamom pods,
• powdered nutmeg (not roasted)
• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 cup coconut cream / 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic

Method of preparation

1. Dry roast the dry spices in a pan on medium heat until fragrant, about 2-4 minutes. It’s best to roast each thing one at a time until fragrant. The chilies should be browned.
2. Grind all the curry paste ingredients including the roasted spices into a paste.
3. Cut the potatoes and onions into bite-sized pieces and wash the broccolli and break the florets.
4. Add the oil to the pan and turn on to medium high. Fry 4 tablespoons of the paste until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
5. Add the Broccolli pieces.Then,add Tofu pieces. Fry about 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the potatoes, and onions . Simmer for a few minutes.
7. Add the cinnamon, cardamom seeds, bay leaves. Mix well.
8. Simmer (and stir well) until the mixture browns and a good deal of oil comes to the top. About 15-20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add some water.
9. Add the soy sauce, palm sugar and tamarind juice at the end.
10. Serve with rice or roti.

Thank you Anita! Do let her know how you like the recipe in your comments :)