Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Thai One On

We love Thai food. Just went out for it last night actually in our quaint little downtown area. But a couple of weekends ago, these 2 recipes from 2 ladies made for a very nice dinner at home. Thai Turkey Tacos from Newlyweds & Spicy Cucumber Salad with Peanuts from Pam at For the Love of Cooking. These were simple & quick enough even for a weeknight meal & the tastes can be adjusted easily whether or not you're looking for a little more heat.


SPICY CUCUMBER SALAD WITH PEANUTS

2 cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise & seeds removed
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 cup of water
3 tblsp sugar
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tblsp minced sweet yellow onion or red onion
1 tblsp chopped dry roasted peanuts

Peel the cucumber then cut in half lengthwise. Take a small spoon & scoop out the seeds from the cucumber. Cut into bite size pieces & place in a colander, sprinkle with salt & toss well. Drain 1 hour. Rinse & pat dry on paper towels.

Combine vinegar, water, sugar & pepper in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cook until reduced to 1/3 cut (about 10 minutes). Remove vinegar reduction from heat; cool. Stir in onion. Combine cucumbers & vinegar deduction in a medium bowl; toss well. Sprinkle with peanuts.

My Thoughts:

I didn't have much time so I didn't drain the cucumbers for that long & I also didn't rinse them. I did just pat them a bit to get off any excess salt. But the idea is that the salt draws out the excess water in the cukes & then you want to rinse them & pat them dry. I do this with zucchini when I am making stuffed zucchini boats. I also added a tad more crushed red pepper & peanuts because Terry likes it with a little heat.


Click Here to Print Recipe


THAI TURKEY TACOS

1 lb. ground turkey
2 T grated ginger or ¼ tsp dry ginger
2 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed
1 small onion, thinly sliced
16oz pkg coleslaw mix with carrots
Cilantro for garnish
Thai Cooking Sauce below
Combine: 2 tsp sesame oil, 6 tblsp of soy sauce, 4 tblsp of lime juice, 2 tblsp of honey, 1 tsp of crushed red pepper, 1 tblsp of ground coriander or cumin

Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add turkey; cook, crumble & stir until meat is no longer pink, about 3-4 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, onion & slaw mix; stir-fry with meat for 2 minutes until vegetables are wilted. Add Thai cooking sauce, stirring constantly to blend all ingredients, about one minute. Serve on warm tortillas & garnish with cilantro.

My Thoughts:

We really enjoyed this for a healthy meal but there needs to be more texture to the filling, more of a crunch. So, next time I plan to add some more slaw mix once everything has been combined so it doesn't become wilted. And definitely a dollop of sour cream & perhaps some diced tomatoes.

Click Here to Print Recipe

For more Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays visit

Lisa at Blessed with Grace

28 comments:

Erin said...

So glad to happen upon your site!
The cucumber salad sounds great!

tiarastantrums said...

oh, this will be a must try - what else would you suggest instead of turkey - how about ground chicken? my hubs hates ground turkey . . .

Anonymous said...

I love Thai food so that sounds very delicious.. and that cuke salad would be great when next years garden starts hitting us with buckets of cucumbers.

Anonymous said...

I made tacos for dinner last night. Not thai tacos.

Oh, Jack talk Thai alright. Jack talk thai.

Rebecca said...

What's with Thai food and peanuts? Is there like an actual reason - does it take away from some of the super hot spice??

Shelley said...

Did you post recently (within the last two or three months) about a death by chocolate cake that you bake in a microwave in a cup?
Thanks for your time. I love your blog.

Maria said...

I love Thai food. Great recipes!

Rachel said...

I absolutely love Thai food and I load up on the extra hot spicy sauce YUM!

Tam said...

I ate Thai almost every night during my first pregnancy...YUM LOL

Tabitha Blue said...

Those turkey tacos sound great! Yum!

Oh and for the Pumcake... I actually used a 6 cup muffin tin and then two 24 cup mini muffin tins... so I would guess you could fill two 12 cup muffin tins easily. They were so good!

Melissa said...

I wonder how they cucumber salad would taste without the peanuts...? I'm not a HUGE peanuts in food (as opposed to by themselves) type of person...

Kacey said...

Oooh Brian LOVES Thai food. Me, eh - I haven't found something that I just have.to.have. This looks good though and I like all of the ingredients...so what could go wrong? Ha! :o)

Deanna said...

I love cucumbers. I must try that salad!

Kristina P. said...

YOu know, I don't love Thai food, but th e ingredients in that salad sound really good.

And I will definitely have to invite the neighbors over for the cookie swap. Although, they might have to come naked, or else I won't recognize them.

Michelle said...

I was reading the gift ideas and the one about wrapping the chocolate bar made me remember this cute poem to add to a chocolate bar. It's called Christmas fudge. Have you ever heard it?

Diva Ma @ Mommy Fabulous said...

Oh my gosh, your page looks delish! I think I'm gonna like it here!

Abby said...

We love Thai food! We will have to give these a try!

Erin said...

Oviedo here......but moving to Viera in Feb.
My hubs went to Ohio State and grew up in Columbus, so of course he bleeds scarlet and grey : )
Where are you in FL? I saw that you went to the nickelodeon hotel, I can't wait till Merrick is a lil older so we can go : )

Jen said...

I have never had Thai food, maybe I should try.

Coco said...

Yummmy! I love anything Thai, lucky you to have thai food in town.

Lump said...

I havent had Thai food in FOREVER. the tacos sound amazing, actually.

Anonymous said...

Glad you tried the Thai tacos, we really enjoy them. Thanks for the review!

silverdot said...

Both recipes sound great. I'm going to follow your suggestions on the Thai turkey tacos - they do sound good. The cucumber salad sounds great too. I love Thai food.

Lula! said...

Oh, how I love Thai. Oh, how this sounds delicious. Must. Make. Tonight.

Amen.

Lisa@BlessedwithGrace said...

That all really looks great. yummy.Thanks for sharing. Don't forget about the TMTT giveaway, next week. I don't want you to miss out.

Carrie said...

Mmmmmmm...I'm making both of those later this week!

My grandma's cuke crisping was to soak them in pretty heavily salted water for a few hours. It works just as well as the salt in a colander trick and you can do it the night before or at lunch or whenever.

If I don't have much time, I just salt the water even heavier and let sit while I'm preparing the rest of dinner. They're usually crisped up pretty well after about 20 minutes.

Rhea said...

I LOVE Chicken Phad Thai. yum.

Brenda said...

The turkey tacos look good! I bet they would be good in lettuce wraps too!