After exploring Indian cooking, I have started adventuring in Thai Cuisine.
I find some dishes to be quite complex, but why don’t we start with a quick stir fry using in-season asparagus?
This dish, served with plain steamed basmati rice, has a wonderful Thai flavour but it’s really quick to prepare.
Did you know, that there are Thai Asparagus? They are thinner than the well-known green asparagus grown in Europe or Central America, but not as thin as the wild ones. They have a more delicate flavour that goes so well with the prawns!
Thai cooking is all about balancing sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy and smooth and this dish does it all!
Hungry? Go buy the ingredients! If you are aiming for the original Thai experience, do invest in Thai products as they have a different flavour then the Chinese ones. Here is your shopping list:
Ingredients:
20 tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
1-2 tablespoons of Thai soy sauce (or light soy sauce)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil (or any other vegetable oil)
2 cloves of garlic
3 stalks of lemongrass, use the white parts, smashed with the side of the knife
1 fresh small red chilli
1 small onion, sliced
300 g of Thai asparagus (or regular green asparagus), cut into 3 cm pieces
1 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (omit if you don’t like the fishy taste)
1 teaspoon of Thai palm sugar (or light brown sugar)
the juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons of chopped roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons of chopped chives
Instructions:
1. Marinate the cleaned prawns in 1 tablespoon of Thai soy sauce for 10 minutes.
2. Heat 2 tbs of (coconut) oil in a wok, add the 2 chopped garlic cloves and fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add 3 lemongrass stalks (only the white part, smashed to release the flavours and chopped), 20 marinated prawns and some chopped fresh chili (a whole chilli for a lot of heat, only half for good heat, use a tiny piece for mild) and stir fry for 2-4 minutes until the prawns change colour.
4. Add the sliced onion and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Now add the asparagus (300g), washed and cut in 3 cm pieces. Fry for 3 minutes or until the asparagus is cooked.
6. In a small bowl mix 1 tbsp of Thai fish sauce (use Soy sauce if you do not like fish sauce) with 1 tsp of Thai palm sugar to dissolve it. Add the juice of the lime and mix well.
7. Add the sauce into the wok and stir fry for another minute. Taste and adjust (add fish sauce if it lacks salt; palm sugar if it is too salty; lime for more tanginess or freshness).
8. Garnish with the chopped peanuts and chives.
9. Serve hot with basmati rice and a cold glass of Thai beer.
10. Enjoy!
Do you know you can do this also vegan? Simply use firm Tofu instead of the prawns, marinate it in soy sauce and chilli flakes to give it some flavour and stir fry before to give it a nice crunch!
What would you choose? Prawns or Tofu? Let me know in the comments below!