Mmmm. Curry Noodle Bowl.

I miss cooking when I don't. I love doing it. Rory doesn't really like curry or anything spicy or super exotic...you'd NEVER see him say yes to Ethiopian food, ever.  So, when he's away, these are things I cook.  Spicy ethnic foods.

I've been reading the blog, 101 cookbooks for years.  I even own one of Heidi's cookbooks and have borrowed another from girlfriend.  I love how she embraces the simplicity of food.  Loving it's real taste, texture, earthiness, etc.  She eats real food simply.  I was flipping through Super Natural Cooking the other day and stumbled upon her recipe for Big Curry Noodle Pot...I suddenly had a hankering for curry.

I enjoyed this so much, that I froze some for later.  I'd like the curry a little thicker next time, not sure how to get there with out adding corn starch.  And that lime at the end, I'd cut it in half, so just the juice of half a lime.  Use the other half the next morning in some warm water before you eat anything - it aids in digestion.

Big Curry Noodle Pot
Adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

Ingredients

• 8 oz. dried udon noodles, should be in the Asian section of your supermarket
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped real fine (oh, hey, garlic...lookin' good)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 med carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon red curry paste (you could add a little more...if you want)
• 12 oz extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
• 2 cups homemade chicken stock (use veggie stock if you want to make this vegetarian)
• 1 dropper full of tumeric extract (recipe calls for 2 teaspoons ground tumeric, used what I had!)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (recipe calls for shoyu sauce, what I found was the difference on the web was that shoyu is richer.)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• Juice of 1 lime (again, I think you should just for 1/2 and add more if you want)
• 1 shallot slivered

The recipe calls for 2/3 cup chopped peanuts and 1/3 cup chopped cilantro...I had neither so didn't use them.  Think both would have been lovely.

Directions
1.  Prep!  Chop everything, put it all in bowls, make sure you have everything you need out and ready.
2. Cook noodles in boiling salted water - read the package, follow those instruction.
3. When you start your water, start your curry.  Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat.  Then throw in the garlic, onion and curry paste.  Mash the curry paste around the bottom to make sure it gets distributed.  Cook until fragrant.
4. Add the carrots, cook for a few minutes.  Add the tofu, stir and cook for a few.  Add the zucchini, cook and stir for a bit. Until all of these guys are coated in this yummy curry.
5. Stir in the coconut milk, stock, tumeric, soy sauce, and sugar.  Bring this all to a simmer and simmer gently until your noodles are ready. (Recipe says 5 min...mine took longer than that and I wanted my carrots to get a little more tender).
6. Remove from the heat and add the lime juice.  Toss in your noodles, get everything nice and coated with curry sauce.  Then put a big helping of noodles and veggies in a bowl and spoon as much sauce over everything as you would like.  This is also where you top with shallots, peanute and the cilantro.

Oh man, enjoy this! xo