Day 2 - Thai Curry Noodles with Loads of Veggies and Spicy Roasted Eggplant Salad

I spent Day 1 of My Clean Cuisine doing two things I thoroughly enjoy. Food shopping and baking. The cereal bars came out very yummy and were a big hit with the family (you can find recipe on Day 1 blog). Day 2, on the other hand, was spent in a complete baking frenzy. It was a Sunday and it dawned on me over my morning coffee that another week was upon us. I had only one day of respite before the madness of life would begin. There would be school pick ups, gymnastics, dance class, french lessons, exercise classes, laundry to fold and errands to run!

I began to panic. Snacks, I need snacks! 

Every time I pick up my children from anywhere, be it school or dance or even just from the swings in our back garden, they demand snacks. Could I make enough snacks to hold us over for the week? And I hadn't even really decided what I would make. I flipped through some cookbooks and surfed the internet desperate for ideas but most of what looked delicious required ingredients that I did not stock in my "not so clean" kitchen. 

So I decided to leave the Super Healthy, Super Clean snacks to next week and just recreate some simple snacks they like. Pretzels, anything chocolate, cheesy crackers and some kind of cake. We also made some frozen smoothie pops as a replacement for my girls' beloved frozen ice pops (whose ingredients list reads as such - water, sugar, glucose syrup and aromas. GROSS). Our ingredient list was - blueberries, banana, strawberries, goat's milk yogurt and a splash of water. YUM! 

Some snacks came out better than others and I will share those recipes one day. But after a day covered in flour I'd rather discuss our yummy vegetarian dinner. Very, very easy (I needed easy after my day in the kitchen) 

So, here's how you do it:

Thai Curry Noodles with Loads of Veggies 

 Ingredients:

A swig of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of chopped garlic

2 tablespoons red curry paste (you can use panaeng or massaman too)

3 really big handfulls of your favorite stir-fry type veggies (I used sugar snap peas, sliced red peppers, and sliced carrots)

1 14 oz/400 ml can of coconut milk

2 cups vegetable broth or 2 cups water mixed with organic veggie bouillon (I know, I know - processed but it's organic and not everyone has time to make broth! Baby steps.)

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (in this recipe it is better to use dark but if you don't have you can use regular light soy sauce)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt (sea salt or himalayan preferably)

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 pound (450g) whole wheat spaghetti

1/2 cup sliced shallots

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/3 cup sliced spring onions (scallions)

In a large saucepan heat your oil. When shimmering add the garlic. After 20 seconds or so add your curry paste and saute until fragrant, stirring it around to soften it. 

Add the coconut milk, broth, curry powder, soy sauce, sugar and salt.  

Bring mixture to a simmer and gently simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors.

Meanwhile, bring another large pot of water to a boil and cook your noodles about 30 seconds to one minute less than recommended on the box. Drain pasta.

Once the sauce has simmered almost 10 minutes start adding your vegetables to the sauce in the order in which they need the longest to cook (carrots need longer than snap peas). The idea is not to cook the vegetables but just to warm them up and so slightly cook them while still maintaining their crunch like in a stir-fry.)

Add the pasta to the curry sauce along with the lime juice, shallots, spring onions and cilantro and toss well to combine. 

Spicy Roasted Eggplant Salad

Ingredients:

1 pound/450 g eggplant

Olive oil

2 tablespoons thinly sliced shallots

2 Tablepooons chopped cilantro

2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

2 Tablespoons Lime Juice

1 Tablespoon chopped hot chili or use crushed red chili flakes to your own level of spiciness

1/2 a red bell pepper, finely chopped

Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and then quarter each half so that you have 8 spears of eggplant. Brush them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in a 200C/400F oven about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile combine all other ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.

When Eggplant is done, allow to cool and then cut each spear into chunks and toss well with other ingredients.

VOILA!