I turned 21 on Friday! Hooray for me. It was a wild night that I will never forget (the parts that I remember) and I couldn't have asked for anything more.
Despite being of legal drinking age, I have yet to purchase myself alcohol. However, my roommate did give me a very exciting gift for my birthday. She bought me a 10 pack of "Beers of the World" from Cost Plus World Market. Each of the ten beers is brewed in a different country so here's my new mission: I will taste each beer and take notes on its flavor and other beer-esque qualities. In addition, I will make a dinner inspired by that particular country to eat while I drink the beer. Perhaps the flavors in the dish will enhance the beer and vice versa, although I'm not sure if that's how it works. Regardless, this shall be an interesting new culinary adventure. Welcome to the world of a twenty-one year old! I'm so happy to be here!
The first beer I chose from the box was called Chang beer and it hails from Thailand. I absolutely love Thai food but have no experience cooking it myself so here goes! I decided to make a cabbage salad with vegetables, mushrooms and chicken. I got some local produce at Yolo Fruit Stand for dirt cheap...the red bell pepper was less than 50 cents!
I chopped up a big bowl full of green cabbage (also cheap)
And purchased broccoli slaw and peanuts from Trader Joe's.
Once all the onion, red bell pepper, portobello and cherry tomatoes were all chopped up...
I started to sautee them in a pan with garlic and soy sauce.
I also baked some chicken in the oven at the same time. I usually only put salt and pepper on meat but today I also used red pepper flakes and curry powder.
Once the chicken and vegetables were cooked I let them cool down because I wanted the salad to be slightly chilled or at least at room temperature. Once the chicken was cooled I cut it into slices. In the serving bowl I mixed the cabbage, broccoli slaw, and cherry tomatoes and dressed it with peanut sauce.
Finally, I added the vegetables and chicken and topped it with peanuts.
Now it's time for the beer!
So many options...I'm glad I went with the Thai beer though. I don't know which I'm more excited to try, the salad or the beer!
Yum, yum yum! The salad is delicious with just a hint of curry and the nice crunch of peanuts. The chicken's the best part although the mushroom comes in a close second. Now for the beer...
Well. This is pretty tasty. It's very light and is a nice complement to the spicy meal. It's got a very smooth aftertaste too. Me likey. Still got 9 more to try though! Can't wait for those! I wonder what dish I'll cook to go along with all those other countries...
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