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

27 comments:

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

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

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  3. 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.

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

    Oh, Jack talk Thai alright. Jack talk thai.

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

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  6. 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.

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  7. I love Thai food. Great recipes!

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

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

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  10. 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!

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  11. 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...

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  12. 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)

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  13. I love cucumbers. I must try that salad!

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  14. 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.

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  15. 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?

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

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

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  18. 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 : )

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

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

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

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

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  23. 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.

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

    Amen.

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  25. 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.

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  26. 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.

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Something delicious to say?