Paleo Thai Food - World Eating Challenge

 Here comes... another World Eating Challenge post!!! One of the non- World Cup countries I really wanted to try to make food for was Thai food. I love Thai food and for the most part, the things I like are pretty Paleo with a little adjustment. However, it's still hard to know exactly what you're getting in restaurants. Another thing I like about Thai food is there are base flavors with a wide variety of ingredients. I picked two Thai dishes that really show this variety - red curry and spring rolls. Red curry is just so delicious with so much flavor but I've seen such a wide variety of veggies in it, making it really customizable. For spring rolls - you can choose from many fillings but they always seem to skimp on the protein and stuff them with lettuce. I also wanted to try to do it with out the one non-paleo ingredient - the rice wrapper. So let's see how I did it!

Shrimp and Duck Spring Rolls

Let's start with the spring rolls. I wanted mine to be shrimp and duck. I felt it would be easier to work with frozen cooked shrimp. Since spring rolls are cold, it saves the step of cooking and then cooling the shrimp.

All you have to do is toss them in some water and let them thaw out.

For the wrap, I used these Paleo Wraps. I'd been hesitant to try them because I wasn't sure how the wrapper would taste or what the texture would be. They ended up being really pliable and there wasn't a strong flavor. I would compare them a lot to a crepe. 

Since spring rolls are a lot of lettuce, I wanted fresh, high quality stuff. I used these cute little gems from my CSA. It also meant a little less cutting since the leaves were the size of my rolls. 

I took a Paleo Wrap and cut it in half. I laid them out and piled on way more filling than what you get from a store or restaurant. Honestly, it was probably a little too much because they were tough to wrap...

The best part of spring rolls is the spicy sweet dipping sauce. I figured that sauce is mostly sugar and a check of a grocery label confirmed that. I decided to make my own with chili paste and honey. Let me just say.... chili paste is really hot. I was going to do a 1:1 ratio but I had to double on the honey and then add a little avocado oil to make it bearable. 

I really loved how these turned out. Since there was no cooking, these were really quick and easy. I think this might be my go to snack from now on! I definitely want to work on perfecting the dipping sauce too. I also might just put some on the inside of the wrap. Because I stuffed them so much they were tough to dip and having an even flavor through out would be nice.

Chicken & Shrimp Red Curry

Next it was curry time! I used this recipe as a basis but did some customizing. I wanted to do a mix of chicken and shrimp because, frankly, I wasn't bound by what I was capable of ordering at a restaurant. This time I used raw frozen shrimp with the plan to let them cook in the curry. I also used organic chicken thighs.

A note on chicken - the one thing I find hardest about being strict paleo is the whole organic/ grass fed thing. I know it's much healthier but it's definitely a financial burden. However, with all of the news about Foster Farms and other low quality chicken, I've really been making a stretch for higher quality meats. 

The first step was to cook the chicken. I normally pan cook chicken for the most flavor but I knew I was going to be preoccupied with the rest of the cooking so I just tossed them in the oven at 375 for 30 min (20 min of baking and then 5 min each side on the broiler for some browning).

Next up was veggies! The recipe had red bell peppers and mushrooms. I decided to also get some mung bean sprouts. Really there is so much flexibility. I've seen red curries with bamboo shoots, pineapple, tomatoes, squash, and everything in between. Put in whatever you like!!

These I just cut up and sauteed.

Next was the curry! Luckily, just about everything in curry (coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce) is Paleo already! The only exception was the brown sugar so I just left this out. The fish sauce and curry paste I used were also gluten free - I linked above to brands that are gluten free. It's definitely something worth checking because they're not always. 

The coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste and lemongrass were all mixed together and brought to a simmer. After that, you can just take out the lemongrass.

Once the curry was ready, I mixed in the veggies, shrimp, and chicken. I let it simmer a little bit more (while I was finishing the spring rolls) which let the flavor permeate all the ingredients. 

Altogether it was an amazing dinner! It seems like I did a lot but really this was all super simple. I paired it with a Chardonnay from Krutz Family Cellars which was a nice balance to the spiciness and just the generally summer heat in our apartment. 

This really turned out great! The changes I would make - I forgot the basil. It said it was a garnish but I think simmering a bunch of it and removing it with the lemongrass would have helped the flavor a lot. I also think it did need some sweetness. I still wouldn't add sugar but some pineapple chunks and cherry tomatoes would have done a lot to help.