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Aubergine & Chickpea Thai Curry

This one started off by us needing to use an Aubergine from the fridge, we love Thai food and the paste adds such great flavour, for the children we use just a ½ teaspoon of paste to add flavour. It really delivered and as we ate dinner last night, I could have really eaten that in a restaurant and not complained. Please see below for the image where I kept aside a portion of the ingredients to make for the babies separately.

Ingredients:

1 aubergine cubed and roastedCoconut oil
1 can chickpeas drainedFish sauce adult only
1 can coconut milkBrown sugar or palm sugar adults only
1 onion choppedFresh coriander
1 carrot pre steamedCouple canned peaches for children
Thai curry paste, we used greenTurmeric
Cooked rice 

Method:

Add your oil to a frying pan once hot and melted add the onion, I wanted to get some nice colour on it. Once it has browned nicely add your steamed carrot and roast aubergine and fry for 2 minutes. I do this when cooking because it can happen without me being there, so we steam and roast our vegetables, also the roasting gives such great flavour it really gets the children enjoying the vegetables. A bit of prep in the morning or afternoon and there is much less to do at mealtime. With two babies you really want to avoid that ‘I am hungry’ screaming.

Add a spoon of the coconut cream and fry till the paste is fragrant

Remove a few spoons of the vegetables and set aside in a desert bowl to use for the babies. If you are making it now just do it in a small pan. Add a teaspoon or more of the curry paste to the adult portion and fry empty the chickpeas in the pan and about ¼ of the can in bowl, once fragrant add a spoon of the coconut milk cream and stir while that fries. Place a spoon of the cream in the children’s bowl and about a ¼ of the watery bit. Now empty the coconut milk can’s contents in the pan and stir. We added some fresh chopped coriander at this stage, it is not essential.

We added a tablespoon of fish sauce and a teaspoon of sugar now, do this to your own taste stir and simmer for 10 -15 minutes stirring every so often. The coconut milk we use was so creamy that we needed to add some boiling water to loosen it I added a ½ -1 teaspoon of turmeric now it adds a nice colour and the stuff is good for you too. It should have a think soup consistency not gloopy when reduced.  We always put our rice on 20 minutes from when we need it, we use a rice cooker and this is such a great help, you don’t even need to think about it.

For the children’s meal I took the bowl set aside out of the fridge, warmed some oil in a pan and added a ½ teaspoon of paste to the hot pan let it fry and add a spoon of the coconut cream and fry off. You are replicating the adult meal just less spice, salt and sugar. Empty the rest of the ingredients into the hot pan and stir, I also added some boiling water, turmeric and a few chopped tinned peaches to theirs stir and reduce for just under 10 minutes. Add the rice to the mixture to warm through, turn off the heat and add some natural yogurt for creaminess and to reduce any heat there may be from the paste. My children just love it! I served theirs with some steamed frozen veg such a blessing as a Mom.

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Thai Pork Mince

This is a delicious recipe that is so easy you can prep it while babies eat a snack and the key is that it can stand this your guest arrive or your husband gets home. One pack of mince makes 2 portions for the babies and one dinner for my husband and I. you can do half and half and have a smaller dinner and freeze more for more children meals.

The final dish, garnished with cariander and sesame seeds

I can’t actually remember where this one came from but it is definitely inspired by soy and Thai basil pork mince dish we ate and loved in Thailand when we went there in 2017 and improvised a little to make it work for the entire family. The image shows the condiments we use but it just what we have in and can be substituted.

Ingredients:

Pork mince (you can substitute with turkey or chicken if you prefer)Fish sauce
½ a Red and green pepperReduced salt soy sauce
4 Spring onions chopped (you can use any onion here)Thai green curry paste, to taste
Washed spinach shredded/ finely choppedPeanut butter optional
Optional ½ grated carrotsSesame seeds
Chopped corianderCoconut oil
½ can of Coconut milkLemon grass if you have any
 Thailbasil if you have this it will be delicious

Method:

Fry the spring onion in the small pan and the peppers in a larger pan using coconut oil, you can use any oil you have here. Once the onion and peppers have chard slightly and soften separate a little into the child’s pan and a larger amount into the larger adult’s pan. I blended the onion and peppers as the babies don’t much like eating pieces of pepper and it integrates nicely into dish then too.

Once you have fried the onion and pepper blend it with a handblender before adding your currypaste, this step is optional

Now add the curry paste to each I used my tiny teaspoons as seen on the chopping board. One un-heaped for the child’s portion and two heaped for the adults, you can add more but it is more for flavour than heat. Stir till they become fragrant and add the mince ¼ for the child’s portion or 50/50 if you want to freeze some portions. Brown off the mince and add the spinach at this point to wilt.

Use a seperate small pan for the children so you can add less curry paste

Once the mince is cooked add the coconut milk and flavour the adult portion with fish sauce and soy and the children’s just with a little soy sauce. Add coriander to taste but save some for the top of your dish, I only added a tiny amount for the children so they can get used to it, but it is a strong flavour for them. If you are only serving this later, I stopped cooking it now and just brought it back up to heat and reduce before serving. If you are eating it straight away added a teaspoon of peanut butter and reduce, taste and serve when you are happy. We serve ours with rice, Thai rice or basmati but what ever you enjoy or have in is fine. Garnish with coriander leaves and sesame seeds. Enjoy!!!