Coconut Curry

Michael brought home a fresh coconut the other day and, after draining the coconut water from it, I knew I had to make something savory with it. I decided on making a coconut curry but with a little bit of a twist -- using fresh chunks of coconut as well as fresh coconut water. 

Normally coconut curry is made with coconut milk and has a very strong coconut taste with a milky texture. I wanted this curry to have just a hint of coconut flavor and I think I captured that pretty well. Oh yeah, I also used tempeh instead of the usual tofu and quinoa instead of rice.

Ingredients:
liquid from 1 coconut (mine yielded about 2/3 c.)
1/2 c. chopped fresh coconut
1/2 c. almond milk
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. lime juice
4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 tbsp. curry powder

dash cinnamon

1 block tempeh, cubed

1 green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 c. broccoli, chopped
fresh coconut for grating

Instructions:
- Combine the first set of ingredients in a pot and heat on medium. Make sure to stir this every so often!
- Cook your tempeh in a skillet or wok on medium-high heat until browned on all sides.

- Once the tempeh is cooked, add in your veggies. You can use whatever vegetables you like but I only added a couple since that's all I had.

- Cook your vegetable and tempeh mixture until your vegetables are just cooked perfectly. Add in your sauce, mix, and cook together for just a couple of minutes.
- Grate some fresh coconut on top and serve on top of quinoa.

I sure do love some coconut curry and I am even more in love with making it at home! The fresh coconut texture in the curry was just perfect and added a nice crunch that I'm not used to when eating this dish at a restaurant. I was really pleased with the end result and will most definitely be making this in the future (and I recommend you do, too!).