I’m trying to eat healthier and reduce my consumption of meat, especially red meat. So most of my home-cooked meals now will have little to no meat in it. A couple weeks ago, I visited an Indonesian grocery store nearby and picked up some Indonesian spices. One of the spices was called opor white curry. Supposedly, this curry’s good for chicken dishes. I didn’t have any chicken, but had some firm tofu that I was supposed to use to make mapo tofu (but ran out of spices). So I decided to try creating a tofu opor white curry dish with no meat, but with sauteed onions, thai chili (chopped), and instead of coconut milk, used soy milk (i can barely taste the difference, but soy milk is a lot of cheaper and not as fattening).

The opor spices have a really nice aroma. I believe it’s got some coriandor, cumin, galangal in it, and maybe lemongrass. It’s a quick dish to prepare and tastes pretty good (did i mention that it’s healthy too!).

I think opor white curry is one of those spices that I’ll always have in the kitchen somewhere, since you can probably add it to a lot of different things and it’ll taste so much better. I may try adding it to mapo tofu to see how that tastes.

I eat out way too often. So far this year, I might cook once a week, if I’m lucky. So I’m trying out recipes that are healthier, easy to cook, and that of course, taste good hopefully. Tom yum soup fits the bill.

Here’s the recipe:

4 14oz cans of chicken broth
2 stalks fresh lemongrass (cut in 2 inch pieces)
5 kaffir lime leaves
1-inch piece of ginger, sliced
2 red chiles, sliced or 1-2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 can straw mushrooms, rinsed and halved
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled with tails on
2 limes, juiced
2 green onions, sliced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

This makes four servings. First, you heat the chicken broth (medium heat) and add the lemongrass and ginger and lime leaves. Cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the straw mushrooms, sugar, and chiles or crushed red pepper, and fish sauce. After a few more minutes, add the shrimp and cook for another 10 minutes. Then add the lime juice, cilantro, and green peppers. There should be a good balance of saltiness, spiciness, and sourness. If it doesn’t taste sour enough, then add some rice vinegar. Total time for preparation and cooking: 30 minutes. Enjoy!