Veggies in red peanut curry sauce

I love curry!  I often make it for myself, and enjoy it in green, yellow and red varieties.  Apparently. humans have been eating curry for at lot longer than I realized.

Disclaimers are not really my style, but I make no claim to authenticity with this dish-it's simply very tasty.  Curry is one of my favorite foods, and when it's topped with some cilantro, I'm in seventh heaven (readers who don't care for cilantro can of course omit it-readers who don't care for curry can of course omit the entire recipe....go make forest farro or something ;-)

This is one of those super easy and quick dinners-I use this a lot after a busy day, or if I'm hungry, but just not in the mood to cook, and not in the mood to go out (does anyone else suffer from this?) It boils down to sautéing vegetables and adding red curry paste, peanut butter, coconut milk and cilantro (with some sriracha or red chili paste/dry red chillies if you like.)  

I made this with some chicken I cut into tiny morsels, but I often as not just leave it out-it's a great supper if you are cooking for vegetarians or vegans (or just food lovers in general.)  While the dish tastes rich, it is, relatively speaking, fairly low in calories.  My Mom and Dad like this served over rice, but I just eat it as it is.  

I use red curry paste from Thai House.  Use whichever you like.

Ingredients

1 medium sweet yellow onion

Fat-either olive oil, vegetable oil, sauté oil, garlic oil, etc.

Assorted veggies-whatever you have in the house.  On this particular occasion I used:

2 carrots

2 zucchini

Snow peas (also called mange tout.  They are apply named, as I often use them as snacks and they don't always make it into whatever recipe for which I've purchased them....oops!)

Mushrooms

Sriracha sauce or red chili sauce

1 can of light (or normal) coconut milk

Cilantro 

Smooth peanut butter

Roasted and salted peanuts (as a garnish-optional)

Chicken (optional)

Method

1. Dice and sauté the onion until it softens.  While this is happening, slice your other veggies and, if you're using it, slice your chicken.  Also, chop the cilantro.  If this is too much pressure, do this before sautéing the onion.

2. If you're using chicken, I'd recommend dicing it and cooking it here.

3. Sautee the rest of the veggies, adding a pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook them as much as you'd like them cooked-everyone has different tastes-I tend to cook mine until they have just a little crunch left.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of red curry paste.  Stir well to disperse the deliciousness.  If using, add some sriracha or red pepper.

5. Add the can of coconut milk and stir well.  

6. Add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, stirring well to incorporate.

7. Add about 2 tablespoons of cilantro.  Taste for seasoning-it may need a bit of salt.

8. Serve the curry by itself or over rice.  Garnish with cilantro and a tablespoon of roasted peanuts.

9. Eat greedily.

Hooray, it's done!