Journey into Thai food continued

My venture into Thai cooking continues. My girlfriend and I prepared our first healthy and delicious Thai Lemongrass soup. It was accompanied by a second dish of quinoa with shrimps.

The meal was tasty, healthy and satisfying. It is went well with some white wine.

As we cook more and more, we find a great amount of healthy and delicious recipes. Sometimes, it requires to adjust the ingredients and replace something with a healthier substitute. However, I find that we generally either maintain the integrity of the recipe or improve on it.

Here are the recipe for the soup and the quinoa I enjoyed yesterday

Thai Lemongrass Soup

1 stalk lemongrass
6 slices ginger root
1 lime
2 small red chilies
4 cups water
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic
6 ounces tomatoes, cut into chunks
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I use white or baby bella)
25 small cooked shrimp
2 tablespoons cilantro

Directions:

1. Cut off the dry end and a few top leaves of the lemongrass stem.
2. Bruise the stem with the handle of a knife and cut into 1-inch long pieces.
3. Reserve.
4. Bruise the chilies, cut them in half, scoop out and discard the seeds.
5. Reserve the chilies.
6. Bring the water to boil.
7. Add lemongrass and ginger, and squeeze out half the lime into the water.
8.Boil 2-3 minutes.
9. Add fish sauce and chili-garlic paste.
10. Cook for another minute.
11. Add tomatoes and mushrooms.
12. Cook for 2-3 minutes (or longer, until it boils and the tomatoes start to fall apart).
13. Squeeze the other half of the lime into the soup.
14. Take off the heat.
15. Add the chilies and let stand a few seconds, then add the shrimp.
16. Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.
17. Leave lemongrass, ginger and chilies in the soup and either try to pour the soup without them, or, better, pour the soup with chunks of lemongrass and ginger in it and warn your guests not to eat these.
18. They do add flavour when left in the soup while you eat it.
http://www.food.com/recipe/simple-thai-style-lemongrass-shrimp-soup-29351

Quinoa with Shrimp

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 8 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

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Directions

1. Bring the quinoa and chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, and let the remaining liquid absorb into the quinoa.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, onion, and red bell pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the asparagus, mushrooms, raisins, and ginger; continue cooking until the asparagus is tender. Stir in the shrimp, and cook until the shrimp have turned pink and are no longer translucent in the center.
3. Stir the lemon juice into the quinoa, then toss the quinoa with the shrimp and vegetable mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/216998/recipeshrimp-quinoa

Enjoy!!!