straight up veg

In the Fall of 2014, I got to travel to Thailand for my cousins wedding (I’d like to give her a shout out for giving me an excuse to drop everything and go to Thailand). While I was there, I learned how to make some mind-blowingly delicious dishes, and learned pretty fast that all the Thai dishes I love most, use some kind of intensely flavoured paste as the base of the dish.

Nam prik pao, is a Thai red chili jam (paste). Its most famously used as the base in Tom yum soup, but it can also be added into curries or used as a condiment. You could totally buy this pre-made at the grocery store, but I promise, this is better.

Recipe makes approx. 1 cup 

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup of chopped carrots (thumb sized pieces)
• 3/4 cup of sliced yellow onion
• 4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
• Approx. 25 medium dried, stemless red chilies
• 7 tbsp coconut oil (vegetable or canola is also okay – just don’t use olive oil)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lime juice

1. In a wok, heat up the oil
2. Once the oil is hot, fry the onion and carrot on medium heat for approx. 3 minutes
3. Once the onions and carrots are soft (but not brown), add the garlic and cook for approx. 1 minute
4. Once the garlic is soft, add the chilies, soy, lime and sugar.
5. Mix and sauté until all the sugar has dissolved
6. Let cool for a few minutes before blending. I use a hand blender, but you can use a food processor or a regular blender. Just make sure there aren’t and chunks in the paste