The Meal
– Vegetables and Rice Noodles in a Coconut Broth
– (Store-Bought) Plantain Chips
The recipe for the vegetables and rice noodles dish comes from one of the THREE Indian cooking shows on TV right now. This is from Anjum Anand; her BBC show “Indian Food Made Easy” airs on the Cooking Channel. The other two are Aarti Sequeira, who is the host of “Aarti Party” on FoodTV, and Bal Anerson, the “Spice Goddess” also on the Cooking Channel. I’ve DVR’d all three and based on what I’ve seen, I suspect there will be more recipes from these shows popping up in the swap in the months ahead.
This meal is part of Anjum’s Kerela menu. Kerela is a state in south India. South Indian food is significantly different than north Indian food (incidentally, I’m from northern India). Many south Indian dishes use a good amount of coconut and curry leaves (as is the case in this recipe). This is the first time I’ve seen a recipe for south Indian (savory) rice noodles…so I just had to try. But I had to modify the process to account for the make-ahead factor…so I hope it works!
To enjoy alongside, I’m sending plantain chips, also prominent in South India.
I sent Heather four parts of the vegetables and rice noodles dish separately. She will have to combine them together when reheating:
– Empty coconut broth into pot and place over medium-low heat.
– Empty pre-sauteed vegetables (minus peas) into pot and simmer cook for 5-7 minutes.
– While vegetables are cooking in broth, in a separate pot, boil water (enough for the noodles). Once boiling, remove from heat and put in desired amount of noodles. Agitate and leave in hot water for a couple of minutes (like 3-4 minutes or so) till they have the right cooked texture.
– Add peas to vegetable broth. Cook for another 1-2 minutes and remove from heat.
To serve, put noodles in a bowl and ladle in the vegetables and broth.
The Verdict
Tuesday: We had the rice noodles and vegetables tonight. Big hit! Both kids actually enjoyed the vegetables more than the noodles! Kavya wanted all the cauliflower and Alex all the broccoli. I think the broth (which they both slurped up) did the trick.
Thursday: Again a series of random events forced us to put off having Heather’s dinner till Thursday night. The salmon was very delicious! I’ll definitely be using this salmon recipe in the future. The kids and the adults all enjoyed all aspects of this meal. Thanks, Heather!