Cafe Liz

Thai red curry

In the back of my fridge is a slowly shrinking bag of green mush that I've been guarding jealously. It's the remainders of the half-kilo of handmade green curry paste that we purchased from our favorite restaurant in Chiang Mai, longer ago than I should probably admit (OK, it was a year and a half ago). How could I use it generously when I knew that once it was gone, the only replacement I'd find was something imported in little plastic tubs whose quality and flavor were complete unknowns?

Now, the biggest barrier to making fresh Thai curry in Israel has been lifted -- fresh galangal is here, and I've bought a nice, fat root that should last me a while.

Mind you, there are still other challenges, as there are whenever you try to prepare a foreign cuisine. Beyond the question of whether foreign flavors meet local tastes, there's the whole matter of ingredients -- looking at this list of Thai vegetables, you'll probably notice a whole lot that you'll never find here (well, not yet, at least).

But negatives aside, we now have access to nearly all the main aromatics, the things that set the taste. So I whipped up my very own batch of curry paste, and while they might do it a bit differently in Thailand, it happened to taste quite good. And that's the most important thing. Continue reading Thai red curry...

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Okra coconut curry

Tucked away in the recesses of the Carmel Market is a guy who caters to the Thai workers, selling all sorts of weird vegetable delights — bumpy gourds, eggplants smaller than olives, yucca roots, foot-long green beans and massive okra, not to mention greens that even he can’t identify. But for now, we’re going to concentrate on the okra — so-called Indian okra.

Local okra tends to be small, like narrow acorns, what we know as the “baladi” kind — an Arabic word that translates usefully as “local.” Now, the problem with okra is that it has to be trimmed, and when you’re dealing with baladi okra, that means nipping the hat off each and every one, when each pod yields only one bite. You can imagine the attraction of the Indian okra — fat, sleek and green, each one as long as my hand.

So, I picked up a handful, about 250 grams, at 20 shekels a kilo. I wanted to do something so special with it that it wound up sitting in my fridge for a week and a half. I had a vague idea of cooking it in coconut, as a curry of sorts. Finally, faced with the prospect of my beautiful okra going brown, I had to give it a go. This is what came out — a relatively simple dish with far fewer spices than most southeast Asian curries. For good measure, I threw in a handful of the itty bitty eggplants I got as well (there they are, in the photo). Continue reading Okra coconut curry…

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Coconut curry lentils

Coconut cream makes lentil stew a little bit less good for you, but a lot better tasting. However, I sprouted my lentils, which makes them a little bit better for you — I figure it fully counterbalances the coconut.

Anyway, I’m not seriously concerned about a bit of extra fat. Coconut milk gives this otherwise simple lentil stew a creamy, even sweet taste, and certainly makes it more fun to eat. Continue reading Coconut curry lentils…

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Melon lemon-geranium sorbet

As you may have noticed, I’ve been making a lot of ice cream and chilled drinks lately, and not too much of what I’d call “real food.” That’s because the last thing I want to do right now is stand over a hot stove (or worse, turn on the oven). The weather is so hot that I’m feeling rather well cooked as it is.

Indeed, (wo)man cannot survive on ice cream and watermelon alone, but we’ll worry about that another day, because this melon lemon-geranium sorbet is wonderfully light and refreshing. Continue reading Melon lemon-geranium sorbet…

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Cherry coconut sorbet with amaretto

This recipe really gives it all away at once — cherry coconut sorbet with amaretto. That’s what’s in it: cherries, coconut and amaretto. Oh, and a bit of sugar. It’s really that simple.

I’ve been eying the beautiful cherries at the market for the past several weeks now. They’re not exactly the cheapest fruit, but fortunately the price has been coming down to 20-25 shekels a kilo, and I usually make the splurge. It’s well worth it, because the cherries are juicy and sweet, and I enjoy every last one.

For that reason, I hesitated to use so many of them in anything that didn’t involve just eating them red, shiny and intact. Eitan convinced me that cherry ice cream would be just as good as raw cherries. Fortunately, I can still buy more. Continue reading Cherry coconut sorbet with amaretto…

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Rice noodles in coconut rhubarb curry

Most recipes for rhubarb involve turning it into mush, without taking advantage of the beautiful, red stalks’ appearance. Thai food often involves a mix of tart, lemony flavors. Hmm, I know! I’ll use the rhubarb in a stir-fry, with Thai seasonings!

I was inspired to make a savory rhubarb recipe by the New York Times, which put the vegetable into an Indian-inspired curry. Meanwhile, as I was planning dinner, I had this idea of making rice noodles in a coconut curry, and everything just fell into place. The rhubarb wound up being a great addition; its tart flavor nicely offset the coconut, lemon juice and cilantro, and it looked great sliced into thin sticks along with some purple carrot.

The end result isn’t exactly Thai, but more importantly, it tastes good. Continue reading Rice noodles in coconut rhubarb curry…

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Passion fruit coconut sorbet

Passion fruit is downright weird — it’s ripe once the peel begins to wrinkle, at which point you slice it open to find it filled with yellow goo. Not the kind of texture you’d usually associate with fruit. That said, it’s a fabulous ingredient for cooking — full of intense, tangy flavor.

It also happens to be in season. I picked up a bucket full of passion fruit for less than five shekels (about $1.25) at my favorite corner greengrocer. They were going for six shekels a kilo, and these fruit are incredibly lightweight.

Passion fruit are so flavorful that I made this ice cream with three ingredients alone — passion fruit, coconut cream and sugar. It came out a beautiful buttery yellow, flecked with black passion fruit seeds, with a rich, creamy texture and a lovely flavor. Continue reading Passion fruit coconut sorbet…

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Carrot pumpkin soup with ginger and cilantro

A while ago, while we were eating out at a restaurant that shall remain unnamed, we ordered a soup that was listed on the menu as carrot soup with ginger, cilantro, coconut and peanuts. What we got was carrots pureed with instant soup powder, topped with a token peanut and a cilantro leaf. This was disappointing not only because we’d paid 30-plus shekels for a bowl of baby food, but also because the combination of ingredients promised by the menu had sounded quite good. So I made my own. Continue reading Carrot pumpkin soup with ginger and cilantro…

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Chocolate coconut sorbet

We’re still experimenting with our new ice cream maker, and here’s one combination we tried: Chocolate coconut sorbet. This light, vegan sorbet has a strong dark chocolate flavor with hints of cinnamon and coconut. Continue reading Chocolate coconut sorbet…

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Orange pomegranate coconut sorbet

I was thinking of calling this a tropical fruit sorbet, but I guess there’s nothing too tropical about pomegranates and oranges, since they both grow locally in our lovely Mediterranean climate. Coconut, however, is another story. I’m finding coconut cream adds a nice texture to my non-dairy, vegan sorbets. In this case, it’s a surprising taste alongside our local fruits. As a bonus, this sorbet came out a gorgeous fuchsia. Continue reading Orange pomegranate coconut sorbet…

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