The Methodical Cookbook Project- Artful Vegan recipe #2!
I have finally accumulated (nearly) all the ingredients for the second recipe in The Artful Vegan- “Crisp Shredded Vegetable Rolls with Tamarind Sauce, Coconut Curry, and Chile Oil.” At this rate it will take me forever to get through the whole book recipe by recipe!
The only ingredient I do not have is “brick pastry sheets,” since I could not find them in any shops I looked in, and internet searches revealed that one can purchase it from Amazon for a mere $98! I found a cooking forum where someone offered to bring some back from France, and someone else said they have found it in their local Arabic and Indian groceries. Since I don’t feel like shelling out that much money for some dough, do not know anyone in France, and do not feel like schlepping to all the tiny Arabic and Indian groceries in the area, I’m going to deviate from the recipe and just use phyllo dough instead. I’m sure it will be close enough.
The recipe consists of several parts- “Millennium Seven-Secret Chile Oil,” “Sweet Tamarind Sauce,” “Yellow Coconut Curry,” and “Crisp Shredded Vegetable Rolls.” Tonight I made the Chile Oil, since it needs to sit overnight.
Here’s all the ingredients (the green stuff in the measuring cup is grapeseed oil):
Here are all the ingredients in the pan, ready to simmer for 30 minutes:
And here it is after cooking:
I tasted the oil at the beginning of cooking, and the dominant flavor was definitely the sesame oil. After cooking it became a bit more complex. The smell is smoky and citrus-y. For some reason it reminds me of Italy. The flavor is interesting- the initial impression is of citrus and a slight smokiness, but then there’s a little tingly afterburn of heat from the chiles. It now sits at room temperature overnight, and I’m really curious to find out what it will taste like in the morning.