Vegan Thai Food

[amritab@yahoo.com]

I love cooking and am also looking into going to culinary school. I went to a ietnamese /thai huge grocery store in Chicago on the weekend. I had done some research into a vegetarian "fish sauce" and that it was rare to find outside vietnam. I found it and was overjoyed. It had the same stinky note that is so typicla in thai food but not as salty as the one with anchovies. also I found it helped to sprinkle some of that fish sauce over towards the end to keep the stick factor. I am so overjoyed. One of my favoriute cookbooks is Hot Sour Sweet Salty - a culinary journey through south east asia. its a great book and has some wonderful recipes that can be modified.

[Korn]

Here a page with a lot of pictures (and a little info) about vegan Thai dishes....
http://www.pjchmiel.com/vegan/thai.html

[globesetter]

ok - my mouth is watering - I doubt I can find such a thing in Vienna, but I am going to try some thai cooking!


regards,
globesetter

[cedarblue]

adapted from recipe in green world cookbook, from demuths restaurant, bath, uk

25g wild rice
75g thai fragrant white rice
100g sweet potato
100g potato
2-4 garlic cloves (depending on you!)
1 red chilli sliced
2cm root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
2 tbs fresh coriander, chopped

(i bought a rice mix of wild rice and white long grain so i just used 100g of that)

cook rice till soft (especially wild rice as it will pop when fried if not cooked enough. drain well.
peel and cook potatoes, drain well and mash.
(make sure pots and rice are well drained before mixing together or mix will be wet and sloppy)
finely chop garlic, chilli, ginger, spring onion and coriander together.
mix all ingredients together with hands, making a mix with a consistency tht will form into soft balls. season if you need to.
shape mix into little balls (size up to you really, could make burgers if you want), roll in a little flour and gently flatten into patties.
shallow fry in oil till golden on both sides.

serve with a chilli dipping sauce and salad......mmmmmmmmmmmm :p

[ConsciousCuisine]

MMM! Here's a Chili-Mint Tamarind Sauce/Chutney to go with them:

Chili-Mint Tamarind Sauce/Chutney
½ cup vegetable broth or water (for chutney, omit and add 3 tablespoons brown rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
3-5 dates
2 tablespoons liquid tamarind concentrate or 4 tablespoons fresh tamarind
2 teaspoons Nama Shoyu, Soy Sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/2- 1 bunch Mint, washed
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4-3/4 thai chili or jalapeno (depending on HEAT desired)
1 T frozen juice concentrate (optional, but good! I used a tropical strawberry-guava juice)
lemon juice, as desired

Put all in a food chopper and pulse! Add a bit of water or lemon juice when making the sauce or chutney as needed.

(This is my recipe)

[Korn]

Hi!

In order to make it easier for vegan newbies (and others) to explore the great world of vegan gourmet food, we plan to start a few threads about recipes. There's a lot of vegan recipes to be found through the search engines, but we still think that it's good idea to collect links here.

What kind of help am I asking for? It's simple... if you spend one minute using your favorite search engine, and (in this case) search for vegan Thai food, you'll get a lot of results. If you find a link (in this case, about vegan Thai food) that looks OK, please just post the URL in this thread, for example like this:

Introduction to Thai cooking
http://www.colba.net/~ajstrong/Thai_mai.htm#Recipes


As the thread grows, we'll put it into the Recipe forum (but for now we'll have it here, for visibility). If you have tried some of the recipes, comments are of course welcome too.

[ConsciousCuisine]

http://www.veganchef.com/

Type in "Thai" and try the Thai Peanut and Veggie Lettuce Rolls. They are GOOD. I make a similar dish, but I make it them by using my sauce instead of the one she uses:

1/3 c. almond butter
1 T. Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 cup lime juice
3 T. water
2 T. raw sesame oil
1-2 soaked, pitted dates
1 1/2 t. garlic, minced
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 jalapeno

Blend all!

[Camyle26]

Thai Food has really, really great vegan meals....

I know none of you prob live by me but there is a place in Port Jefferson LI that has AMAZING thai food. :p

[cedarblue]

it always concerns me if thai places use shrimp paste in their pastes/sauces.

sometimes its difficult to make yourself understood when asking about it :(

[Camyle26]

ewww do you really think they use shrimp paste?!

[assilembob]

or just fish sauce (not necessarily shrimp)
i have a friend who is highly allergic to shell fish and she got really sick eating vegetarian thai food in New Hampshire...cause it had fish sauce...
if she eats a fish who ate a fish who ate a fish ect...that ate a shell fish at one time she will get sick and could die.
I just ask...no places I have gone to use it and if they did...they left it out for me. Just be super nice and super clear.

~Mel

[Camyle26]

Wow.. thank you for the advice. That is really scary!!!

[cedarblue]

i just notice that a lot of recipes use fish sauce and a ready jar of thai curry paste i looked at had shrimp paste in it. doesnt mean everyone uses it though - just ask! :)

[Camyle26]

oh my god that is really scary...

i didnt want to say anything, thinking if i didnt type it in, it wasnt true... haha... BUT i always felt like i smelled fish in my food... thought it was just the curry or something... YUCKKKKK

[Korn]

Many Thai places use fish sauce in their recipes, but it's fully possible to make really tasty Thai food with only plant ingredients...

[veganblue]

There are tom yum pastes (mild to hot) that make a brilliant sauce for Thai and aisan style dishes. The don't have to have shrimp paste and some are even labelled vegetarian which is saying no shrimp. (Of course, always double check).

Mix a healthy teaspoon of the paste with equal parts of potato starch plus one cup of water. I sometimes add a little vegie stock powder and fresh grated ginger. This makes a great sauce over most lightly stirfried vegies with either a rice noodle or steamed rice. For a really Thai flavour use a kaffir lime leaf very finely chopped in with the vegies and garnish with chopped coriander (cilantro). Quick, easy, fresh, very little washing up :)

[Roxy]

I sometimes eat from a local Thai Restaurant and the vegan dishes I have are: Buddhist Vegetables, Chilli Fried Rice, sometimes the deep fried tofu and sometimes the vegetarian spring rolls.

Perhaps you can ask them to make you your favourite dishes without the shrimp paste (you could always say you are allergic to it).

I tried a Malaysian restaurant recently that uses shrimp paste in many of their "vegetarian" dishes, but it also states on the menu that these items can be made without the shrimp paste.

One thing that I really like about these types of food, compared to Chinese food is that you very very rarely have to worry about MSG in the food. Infact - I haven't come accross it yet in Thai or Malaysian food. I think their foods are flavoursome and fragrant enough without having to add it.

This past week, I tried a new Chinese takeout place, recommended by a couple of work mates. I had the tofu in blackbean sauce, steamed rice and a curried vegetable dish. I'm sorry to say that I completely forgot to ask if they used MSG - which is unusual for me when trying a new Chinese place. This is because I get awfully sick from it.

Anyway, approximately 6 hours later, it was confirmed to me that there was MSG in the food (insomnia, foul taste in my mouth, unquenchable thirst, stomach pain and vommiting).

[assilembob]

my-oh-my Roxy...I think we ate at the same place last night. I still can't hold food down. *slaps forehead*
although at least I didn't pay for it :D

[Roxy]

I hope you feel better soon. My MSG-reaction took place on Wednesday night. I felt a lot better after I expelled it from my system. Is yours MSG poisoning too do you think?

[assilembob]

yeah...because it was such a quick reaction. It also didn't help cause i had a painful procedure done earlier friday then my friend got me chinese...i was so sick and it hurt to be sick cause of the procedure i had done...
I am done with bad luck now please...someone send some good energy my way.

[Camyle26]

awwww hope you feel better!!!

thanks for the advice guys ;)

[assilembob]

Camyle26: if you do eat something with nasties in it...don't feel bad. It happens to the best of us.
And chocolate makes EVERYTHING better!!

~Mel

[Camyle26]

haha Mel, thanks... I know, I got really sick to my stomach thinking about seafood in my food. I dont think Id eat there again even if they told me no SEAFOOD in it... id still wonder the whole meal! haha ;)

True...Chocolate is VERYYY good. Happy Vday!

[feline01]

I always stress when I order thai (which is rare) that no fish sauce, no egg, since fish sauce is standard even in vegetarian entrees and egg is sometimes chopped and added to dishes. Same with Indian, I always stress no ghee (butter), no dairy in anything. I rarely eat out and if I do, eat at veg places as much as possible.

[Mystic]

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch basil, chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped
2 green chillis, sliced thinly
1 tbsp freshly minced/grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
165ml coconut milk
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp lemongrass, sliced
1 head broccoli
100g baby corn
1 zucchini, sliced
1 sweet potato, cubed
200g green beans
200g snow peas
salt and pepper to taste
STEPS:
1. In a blender, combine the basil, coriander, chillis, ginger, garlic and coconut milk.
2. You may need to add 1/2 cup of water, or more coconut milk if you want it very creamy.
3. Blend until very smooth.
4. In a pan, combine onion and sweet potato with the herb/coconut mixture.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer until the sweet potato has softened a little.
6. Add the zucchini baby corn, and cook for 10 minutes.
7. Add the broccoli, green beans and snow peas and season to taste.
8. Cook until the greens are bright green (about 4 minutes).
9. Serve over rice.