Tasty Thai

After a hard week, consisting of four final exams and three long (late) nights at work, Sunday couldn't come fast enough. I was definitely in need of some quality girl time and therapeutic cooking.
So I grabbed my can of coconut milk, some fresh ginger and spices, and the last half of my Dove chocolate Easter bunny and headed to Milena's house to make a delicious meal.

This Coconut Curry recipe is simple, fresh, and light. It was delicious served over the broiled tilapia! Milena had tons of romaine heart lettuce that she wanted to use so, instead of rice, we served the fish curry on a salad. In order to make the coconut curry serve as a dressing, we added brown rice flour to thicken the sauce. When serving over rice, omit the flour so that the curry is like more fluid.

Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce Recipe: From Cooking Light Magazine
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients

* 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil, divided
* 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
* 1 cup chopped green onions
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* 2 teaspoons red curry paste
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon brown sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
* 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk + 2 Tbsp brown rice flour (to thicken)
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley)
* 4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
* Cooking spray
* 3 cups hot cooked basmati rice (we used Romaine hearts to make it a salad)
* 4 lime wedges

Preparation

Preheat broiler.

Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add pepper and onions; cook 1 minute. Stir in curry powder, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and coconut milk; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

Brush fish with 1/2 teaspoon oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve fish with sauce, salad (rice), and lime wedges.

Baked Chocolate Coconut Milk Custards

I have been waiting a month for the perfect recipe to unveil itself to me so that I could use my dark chocolate bunny from Easter. My mom admitted to "specializing" my Easter basket this year, AKA all dark chocolate! Dark chocolate eggs, exotic dark chocolate bars, and of course a solid Dove dark chocolate bunny. So truth is I ate half of the bunny before this recipe, but it ended up being the perfect amount for our custards. Also, in light of being economical, we were able to divide the single can of coconut milk and use part for our curry and a cup for the custards.

Baked Chocolate Coconut Milk Custard Recipe: From Lisa's blog DandySugar.com

Preheat oven to 350

1 1/4 cups coconut milk
3/4 -1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chopped
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

Heat the chocolate with the coconut milk in the top portion of a double boiler just until melted and smooth. Whisk mixture, careful not to let it burn. Remove from heat and cool. Once cool, add chocolate to a food processor along with the eggs, salt, and vanilla extract. (If you are using the vanilla pod, add it to the chocolate milk mixture instead). Pulse until blended and frothy.

Divide mixture between 6 small ramekins or 4 larger ones. Place ramekins in a large rectangular baking dish, transfer to middle oven rack, and fill just about halfway with water.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the center is just set.

*End Note: This recipe would be even more delicious if topped with Cinnamon Whip Cream! We attempted to make homemade whip cream with a single whisk but failed miserably due to the absence of a real mixer.