Our Plant Based Food is Now Available for Delivery in Bangkok

Our Plant Based Food is Now Available for Delivery in Bangkok

This month we’re launching a new delivery menu for plant based food for our customers in Bangkok. The menu combines Thai dishes we love to make in our cooking classes with our favorite homemade meals. The menu is geared towards busy families who want to save time in the kitchen without compromising their diets.

Thai mushroom stir fry (aka krapow) with holy basil and chili.

The new menu is an opportunity to extend interest in healthy cooking to people who haven’t had a chance to join our cooking classes. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm about plant based eating in the Thai community right now,” says Panisha Chanwilai, our vegan cooking teacher.

“But when people look for plant based recipes online, they might assume it’s all salads and pasta. I want Thais to be proud of our own cuisine, which can easily be made into healthy meals.”

For instance, this month one of the featured dishes is tom kha soup. Thai food fans may recognize this dish as the calmer little sister of spicy tom yum soup. The dish is a soup is composed of coconut milk, made fragrant with classic Thai aromatics like kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, and galangal.

Besides the ingredients that make the dish tom kha, there’s a lot of flexibility to decide what else we would like to include. These variations are common to see from one Thai household to the next. One family may choose to include banana blossom, another prefers the soup with a variety of local mushroom, while still another adds extra chili jam to add heat and color.

Our version is made without any meat products, nor fish sauce. We also no longer use white sugar, and try to exclude oil in our recipes whenever possible. This addresses many of the common criticisms of trends in Thai food the last few decades, which can be oily, overly sweet, and scant on vegetables. However, when you have homemade Thai food, this isn’t always the case.

In addition to food, you can order our organic tempeh, tofu, and other food products as well.

Ready to try food from Courageous Kitchen? In addition to the meals, customers can order our homemade tofu, tempeh, and other food products. Orders are placed by Thursday each week, and the food is delivered to people’s homes every Sunday in a refrigerated truck. As always, proceeds from the sales will help us continue our mission to feed and educate during these uncertain times.

To order and receive the new menu each month, message us via our delivery order form.

Sweet Potato Leaf and Lemongrass Soup Recipe

Sweet Potato Leaf and Lemongrass Soup Recipe

Often overlooked because of the delicious sweet potatoes themselves, the leaves of the sweet potato plant are nourishing as well. Sweet potatoes grow in the soil unseen, but above them is where all of the action is happening. Given enough space sweet potato vines are prolific. They will act as ground cover, stretching across your yard, and when given the opportunity to climb, will grab hold of nearby plants, posts, and fences. With plenty of sun provided, the heart shaped leaves stay ever stretching to find new opportunities to sun bathe.

Young sweet potato leaves on the end of a sprawling plant. The leaves are edible and have no bitter after taste.

Any gardeners reading are likely to join in our enthusiasm for these tasty leaves. The same can’t be said of regular potato leaves which can be toxic. Pumpkin, squash and other gourds have leafy vines, but the leaves have a sticky layer on them that needs to be peeled. Then there’s the incredibly popular cruciferous greens like kale which are well known, but sweet potato leaves are seldom as bitter, often being neutral tasting. This means they’re also good for introducing more green into the diet of young people as well.

A few ideas for cooking sweet potato include having them raw in a salad, or as an addition to a green smoothie. When harvesting them for a salad, look for the tender young leaves, often a deeper color than the larger leaves. For stews, stir frys, and any heavier cooking, the larger leaves hold up well. We use the beautiful new leaves as a colorful and tender garnish on top of other dishes as well. These leaves appear darker in color and more waxy looking, but lose this sheen as they grow larger.

Mix up your usual salad greens by adding sweet potato leaves. Here a young sweet potato stem anchors this salad (with the dark leaves), along with butterfly pea flowers and sesame seeds.
Often the young leaves are darker in color and more tender, making them a great for garnishing other dishes like this gaeng som curry with durian.

Today we want to share a bowl of simple, sweet potato soup. The recipe is versatile, allowing for lots of variations. Feel free to make it your own, using different vegetables and locally grown herbs if needed. The point is for the soup to be a vehicle for nutrition, and a champion for biodiversity. The flavor comes from the combination of soft and hard aromatics in the recipe, basil leaves and lemongrass, and should only be mildly sweet with an optional touch of heat from fresh chili. Enjoy the recipe below with a heap of sweet potato leaves, and any other nearby and nutritious ingredients you have to add.

Ingredients

  • Serves: 4-6 people
  • Equipment: mortar and pestle, pot
  • Prep & Cooking Time: 30 minutes

1L water or stock
500g sweet potato leaves
500g winter melon (substitute another soft gourd like zucchini if needed)
1 angled gourd, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
5 lemongrass stalks, smashed
6 shallots, smashed
4 coriander roots, smashed
3-4 fresh Thai chili (substitute with mild chili or bell pepper if desired)
1 tbsp of palm sugar
1 cup of soy sauce
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of black soy sauce
1 bunch of lemon basil (or other sweet tasting herb leaf, like Italian basil)

The leaves on the sweet potato vine are dominant in the garden, and they’re tasty enough to be dominate your soup bowls too!

Instructions

1) Prep all your ingredients, washing and peeling as neccesary. Before you start cooking, consider which vegetables you’re adding that may need more time than others to cook.
2) Pound your shallots, coriander root, and lemongrass in a mortar and pestle. Or bruise with a heavy object.
3) Add water to your pot with these three aromatics (shallot, lemongrass, and coriander root) and bring to a boil.
4) When the soup is fragrant and lightly boiling, add any tough vegetables like carrot, followed later by soft veg like winter melon and angled gourd. Cook until soft.
5) Adjust your heat to low and season by adding your palm sugar, soy sauce, black soy sauce, and salt. Taste and adjust as needed.
6) Turn off the heat and add your fresh handful of lemon basil.
7) When serving remember to avoid adding lemongrass into your serving bowl. You can remove it completely, but leaving it in the soup will allow it to continue to add flavor to the broth.

The dominant flavors in this soup are the lemongrass and basil flavors, followed by a slight sweetness from the palm sugar and shallots.

This recipe is suitable for a large family of 5-6 people and may put a big dent in your garden. Don’t worry though, the sweet potato plants are resilient, and can survive your pruning and nibbling. Do let us know if you loved this recipe by donating to our charitable work, or signing up for one of our online classes. Then check back soon for more updates and recipes!

Tom Yum Fried Rice Recipe

Tom Yum Fried Rice Recipe

Tom Yum lovers will be excited to learn you can enjoy the popular soup in a variety of ways. One of our favorite renditions is in the form of fried rice. This is similar to what you would order at a street food stall with a wok station. If you can find fragrant herbs to add, this recipe will be a great way to spice up your usual homemade fried rice!

Aromatics & Cooking Method

If you’re new to tom yum, the flavors come from a combination of aromatic herbs popular in Thai cooking. Those herbs are lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaf. If you’ve ever had them in a Thai restaurant you may remember them because they’re the bits in the soup you can’t eat comfortably. Although all of them are edible, each is so coarse they would be really tough to chew.

To make the fried rice version, you’ll need to find your local asian grocer and prep the ingredients. Unlike the soup where the herbs will boil together, this recipe requires the elbow grease to pound them in a mortar and pestle. This is a big job, and is best done in a traditional stone mortar and pestle, so that each of the ingredients is properly smashed.

Homemade Thai chili jam is best (see our recipe), and you can use the excess oil for cooking your fried rice.

Can you put the items in a food processor or blender? Sure you can. However, often when we’re using the mortar and pestle, blending is not the most important function for using this traditional kitchen equipment. What we really desire are the essential oils from the ingredients that will make a paste that will remind your eyes, nose, and mouth of your favorite tom yum soup!

Finally, we should add some details about the moisture content of the fried rice. If you’re not cooking over high heat, or using leftover rice that is drier than rice freshly steamed, you may find the final product too soggy. If you know you prefer the drier, more crusty fried rice— be prepared with a heavy duty wok or pan to use. That way you can stir fry you rice longer, and scrape the stuck rice at the center of the wok to free the toastiest bits before they burn (not the best use of your non stick pan). Don’t be surprised to find cooks who love their fried rice this style, even throwing the wok or skillet of fried rice into the oven for a crispy finish.

Tom Yum Fried Rice

Gather, wash, and prep all of your Thai ingredients for this recipe, along with the protein of your choice.

Equipment: mortar and pestle (preferably stone), wok

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of rice
  • 70-100g of protein (we used tofu)
  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 30g mushroom
  • 30g tomato (plum or less watery tomatoes work better)
  • 20g onion
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves
  • 2 tbsp of soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp of sweet chili jam (nam prik pow)
  • Optional: Lime to squeeze on top and spring onion for garnish

Tom Yum Paste Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp of minced galangal
  • 1 tbsp of thin sliced lemongrass
  • 2 chili (optional)

Directions

  1. Prep all your ingredients. In mortar and pestle, pound lemongrass, galangal and chili together. Set aside.
  2. Chop your proteins bite sized or smaller.
  3. In a wok over medium heat, add a tbsp of cooking oil.
  4. Add your proteins (If using tender meats like shrimp, you can set aside after cooking) and stir until mostly cooked.
  5. Then add your paste and allow to become aromatic. Followed closely by your onions.
  6. When your proteins are cooked and other ingredients smell nice, add your mushrooms and tomato.
  7. Now you’re ready to add your rice. Mix with everything and add soy sauce and chili paste.
  8. Stir fry until ingredients are well incorporated, or you have achieved the desired texture (give it an extra few minutes if you prefer a dry fried rice).
  9. Plate and garnish, reminding your guests to squeeze their lime wedge over the top before enjoying.
The combination of classic Thai aromatics makes this a spicy choice no matter what meat, seafood, or plant based alternative you choose for your recipe.

We hope you enjoy this combination of two of our favorite things, tom yum and fried rice! Remember you can support our project and the creation of more recipes by making a donation or booking an online or in person cooking class.

PS – Don’t forget to tag #courageouskitchen on instagram to show us the results of your cooking too!

Courageous Cook Off Winners & Thai Gift Sets!

Courageous Cook Off Winners & Thai Gift Sets!

Last month we challenged our Instagram friends to a Thai food themed Quarantine Cook-Off. We were blown away by all of the creativity!

Our instructions were simple: create a Thai inspired dish, post on social media, and tell us what courage means to you. Here are a couple of the standout meals submitted from around the globe:

Papaya Salad submitted by Mony Hean

“Courage to me is the willingness to face fear, embrace uncertainty and to stand up for one’s beliefs!”

Amen, Mony. We couldn’t agree more!

Longtime CK supporter and volunteer, Daniel Saguin, said these powerful words:

“Courage means learning more about yourself, your culture, and your traditions while being open to things you don’t know- histories that are both good and bad.”

Daniel’s ‘Kanom Jin’, an herb topped fragrant red curry with vermicelli rice noodles

And last but not least the winners of the challenge: Henry and Barbara from California who said:

“Courage is stepping out of your comfort zone, entering the unknown, seeking to improve your life and the lives of those around you.”

At Courageous Kitchen this is exactly what we strive to do every single day: improve the lives of others. With the uncertainty in our current climate, it’s important for us to remember that something as simple as growing your own food or sharing a meal can make a tremendous impact in reducing food mileage, healing your body, and the environment. By providing fresh produce and a hot meal for our students it can mean the difference of whether or not to they are going hungry that night.

Winners: Vegan Red Curry Ramen by Henry and Barbara.

We were so impressed with everyone’s dishes, but especially by your words of wisdom. Thank you to Henry and Barb for the beautifully presented meal. As our winners they will be receiving a Thai Cooking Kit full of our favorite ingredients like palm sugar and coconut milk, so they can keep perfecting their favorite dishes!

For those of you who didn’t have the chance to enter, don’t fret! Our friends from Taste of Thailand have curated an “I love Thailand” care box for those residing in the country. Each box contains items from small businesses and local purveyors, including homemade sauces from our students in the Courageous Kitchen.

The ‘I Love Thailand’ gift set for your favorite food enthusiast.

Care boxes will be delivered straight to your doorstep and with every sale, you’re ensuring the purchase of two meals for those in need. To our US and Canadian friends, don’t you worry because we’re crafting up something equally as exciting for you all. Be on the lookout for details. The trio of sauces included feature homemade sriracha, pad thai sauce, and Thai chili jam (aka nam prik pao).

We are grateful for the continued support from friends like you which allows us to feed and educate families throughout Bangkok. We hope you had fun participating in our Quarantine Cooking Challenge and we can’t wait to see what you’re all crafting up for the next one!

For anyone who missed the chance to participate, be sure to follow @courageouskitchen on instagram!

Easy Thai Cilantro Leaf Salad Recipe

Easy Thai Cilantro Leaf Salad Recipe

Today’s recipe is a simple dish called ‘yum pak chii’ which is made with an abundance of cilantro leaves. While not everyone enjoys the taste of cilantro, also known as coriander, even those who do, may not have considered using the distinctive leaf as a salad green.

This recipe is simple and perfect for gardeners who have an abundance of this herb in their garden. Whether you’re a lover, hater, or somewhere in between, we hope this recipe encourages you to rethink how we can better use the herbs and vegetables we have on hand.

“More than a garnish, not yet a main”

Yum Pak Chii Ingredients

2 cups of picked, washed cilantro/coriander leaves
2 tsp of coconut cider vinegar
3-4 hot Thai chilies chopped (adjust to your preference)
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1-2 tbsp lime juice (about half a lime)
2-3 tbsp of peanuts

Yum Pak Chii Ingredients

  1. Wash your leaves and chop from the larger stalk. The smaller branches are easy to eat, but you don’t want to include any thicker stalks.
  2. Set to dry or put in a salad spinner while making your dressing.
  3. Combine palm sugar, chili, soy sauce, and coconut vinegar in a small bowl.
  4. Add 1-2 table spoons of lime to taste.
  5. When ready to serve, pour the dressing over the leaves and mix thoroughly before plating.
  6. Finish plating by scattering the peanuts over the top and serve.

Is it common to make salad with cilantro in Thailand?

No, although Thais love cilantro it is mostly consumed in curry pastes or as a condiment. There are few dishes where the herb is the main ingredient. This recipe was inspired by experiences eating the salad with hill tribe cooks in Northern Thailand.

Although development has been rapid in the past few decades, the culture and the cuisine of the tribes in the North is often a departure from food around the rest of Thailand. The resulting recipes vary, as do the ingredients from in one village to the next. Don’t be surprised to see some recipes including everything from common Thai ingredients like shallots and tamarind juice, to even spicy red chili paste and crispy pork rinds (as in ยำผักชีแคบหมู).

What can I substitute for peanuts?

We realize so many people around the world have an intense allergy to nuts, especially peanuts. One simple solution to add texture and color, would simple be adding half a cup of halved cherry tomatoes. Some versions of this recipe call for the crispiness to come from pork rinds.

Peanuts are not native to Northern Thailand. In fact, the peanuts pictured with the distinctive ’tiger striped’ skin were introduced by the Royal Project Foundation. The cultivar was successful even in areas of high altitude, which helps local farmers earn income and diversify their crops. Now we’re able to purchase these local organic peanuts from farmers in Chiang Mai and similar provinces.

Are there Thais who think coriander leaf tastes like soap?

They may be out there somewhere, but I haven’t met them. Of course there are people who dislike coriander, but we haven’t met many Thais with as strong disdain as the westerners we encounter. If there’s a community of Thai coriander haters somewhere, please correct me. Also, I have lots of questions for them because the ingredient is extremely common in Thai cuisine, with the seeds, leaves, root/stalk all being consumed.

Is there an alternative to coconut cider vinegar?

You can use similar products such as apple cider vinegar, rice wine, or regular cooking vinegar. You can also use tamarind juice which will add more body to the dressing, or even adjust the recipe by increasing the amount of lime used. Since each ingredient is slightly different be sure to taste and adjust.