September 23rd: Vegetable Sauté and Chicken with Coconut Curry Sauce

Verdict:
Try Again: Chicken with Coconut Curry Sauce
Toss: Vegetable Sauté

I had intended tonight to be a vegetarian night, but my leftover tofu from salad rolls night (September 4th) was no longer good. Who knew tofu doesn't keep forever once it has been opened?

I ended up cooking chicken instead. The coconut curry sauce on the chicken was A-MAZ-ING! The recipe says it goes well with tofu, steak, or chicken, and I saved the leftovers to use again because I wanted to drink it out of the pot, it was so good. I pulled this recipe out of the Ottawa Citizen in July, and it is adapted from a book called Campfire Cuisine. The recipe is below.

Grilled Tofu/Steak/Chicken with Coconut Curry Sauce

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Makes: 8 servings*

1 can (14 oz) unsweetened light coconut milk
1/4 cup (60 mL) smooth peanut butter
2 tbsps (25 mL) brown sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) curry powder
1 tsp (5 mL) ground coriander
1 tsp (5 mL) salt, divided
1/4 - 1/2 tsp (1-2 mL) hot red chili flakes (to taste)
juice of 1 lime
2 lbs (900 g) tofu (firm or super firm), steak or chicken
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Mix coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, curry, coriander, 1/2 tsp (2 mL) of the salt, hot red chili flakes and lime juice in a medium saucepan. Heat to a boil then lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.

Slice tofu lengthwise into 3/4-inch thick slices; lightly coat each side with olive oil. Season with remaining 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt and black pepper. Grill until warmed through, about 3 minutes per side. If using  steak or chicken, grill to desired doneness.** Place the tofu or meat on plates; top with curry sauce and green onions.

*Or less, if you load the sauce on your plate as I did
**Having an empty propane tank, I cut my chicken into pieces and fried it

To accompany the delish chicken, I made a Vegetable Sauté from July 2001's Yoga Journal. This was a good, filling scran of veggies, and while I enjoyed it, I found it to be on the plain side, and I wasn't blown away by it, which is the criterion for trying a recipe again. I'm tossing it. The best part of this dish was that Olivia and I discovered we love lima beans. Again, who knew? What a night for discoveries!