I’ve been with our CSA for 3 years now and it’s been one of the better things that has happened to my cooking in recent years. We get a giant bag of vegetables each week and while we do receive an email letting us know a few days in advance what we’ll be getting, I barely glance at it. Truth be told, I’m not much of a planner and I like my share to be a surprise. So every Tuesday from June to October is like Christmas with a surprising amount and array of various vegetables.
So when a recent haul contained various summer squash, kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and green onions I wanted to use up as much as I could in one meal so an asian inspired dragon bowl seemed like the perfect dinner. I mean, look at that colour and variety! It makes me hungry just looking at it. Coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger and the Almighty Sriracha play their roles as well. Everything gets tossed with my favorite rice stick noodles to make a hearty and filling feed – with no animal or gluten bits in sight.
curry vegetable dragon bowl
4 – 5 c assorted vegetables (kale, chard, carrots, celery, green onion, cauliflower, broccoli, summer squash, red sweet peppers, fresh peas, etc.)
1/2 pkg of medium rice stick noodles (225 g approx.)
1 c vegetable stock
2 T curry paste or powder
1 stalk lemongrass, minced
1 can of light coconut milk (14 oz)
1 T agave syrup or honey
1 T soy sauce or Bragg’s (Bragg’s is gluten-free)
1 T fresh ginger
2 T coconut oil
a big squirt of sriracha (optional)
1 lime, quartered1. Use an assortment of fresh vegetables. Cut carrots, squash, cauliflower thinly so everything cooks at the same time. Chard and kale should have stems removed and can be sliced into thin ribbons, celery on the diagonal, etc. Set aside.
2. Boil a water in a large pot. Turn off heat and add rice stick. Let sit for 5 minutes, stirring once. Drain.
3. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, heat stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add in lemongrass, ginger, coconut milk, honey, soy sauce or Bragg’s and half of the coconut oil. Let it simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.
4. Add the last tablespoon of coconut into a large high-walled skillet or saucepan and let melt over med-high heat. Add in vegetables and saute for a few minutes until the colours are bright and the vegetables have slightly wilted. Add in the noodles, curry sauce and sriracha, if using, and give everything a good toss using tongs. Cook for another 5 minutes until noodles have cooked through. Serve in deep bowls and squeeze lime juice over top. Makes 4 portions or 2 gigantic ones.
HOLY YUM – this looks fantastic. I already have dinner prepared for tonight, but I am most certainly making this tomorrow!
YUM! I just found a local CSA and our membership starts next year. I can’t wait!
I love finding dishes that I can just throw all of my CSA veggies into as well! Especially if they involve curry. This looks great!
Yeah, those CSA schemes can be quite challenging in the kitchen. This reminds me of the Dragon Bowl we used to get at Rebar when we lived in Victoria. Unfortunately, now we’re in London, UK where it’s actually pretty hard to get something like this. Strange in a place of this size, but it was actually way better for reasonably priced veg-options in Victoria!
that looks just great. I must go out and wander about the garden with my dinner basket.. ! c
This looks great, I’ll have to get some rice noodles! I’m in a CSA this year and I looove it. I like reading the emails though, because I get to anticipate my share and start planning meals.
Can you specify more on the curry paste/powder? I get confused because there’s Thai curry, Indian curry, and then you get to different colours- who knows what to choose?
I’m so not hungry but now I’m so hungry! This is hands down my favorite kind of food – spicy and savory and perfect. I’m now sure why I don’t make things like this more often. Time to remedy that!
Looks like a bowl full of yum to me! I always find my best inspiration comes from the freshest produce.
Thank you for posting what I can do for dinner tonight. I have everything necessary so no need to trek to the grocery store! Whew!
I’ve been tempted to try a CSA, but my husband is afraid it would just turn into expensive compost. I like what you’ve done with these veggies. Looks delicious!
This looks like a bowl of delicious goodness! Yum!
That looks beautiful and fresh and awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Your Dragon Bowl looks great! I’ve never used lemongrass in my cooking before but I have tasted it and it does add a lot of flavour to Asian food. I’m really contemplating joining a CSA here but they can be quite costly, but so worth it seems, judging from how diverse your veggie collection is throughout the year 🙂
Ashlae, I hope you gave it a go! It’s a good one.
Trysha, congrats on your CSA! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it – we love ours and find it indispensable.
Thanks Joanne! Curry is always a win 🙂
Adam, I went to the UK a couple of years ago & was so shocked at the prices! I do tend to agree that Vancouver & Victoria have stellar restaurant options (& at great prices).
Cecilia, I’m envious of your garden!
Lydia, I’m not really picky about curry pastes & powders. It is funny though, I wanted to use a green curry paste & was pretty sure I had a tin in my cupboard but after much rooting around, I couldn’t find it. So I just went with my Indian garam masala paste and it was delicious. I’ve tried yellow and red curry pastes/powders in similar recipes and those work really well too.
Dana, I always wonder why I don’t make rice noodles so often too! They are easy and they do provide a different bent on dinner.
Yes indeed, Jacqui, this is such a bowl of yum!!
Kali, I hope you enjoyed your dinner!
Lynn, I can understand about the CSA – I think it took us a year to adjust, but now we make use of every single thing without waste.
Thanks Jennifer & Venus!
Bijoux, you could just use more lime juice, but I love the pungent lemony flavour from lemongrass. It’s easy to find at my local markets cheap, so I always try to have some on hand. As for our CSA it’s $500 for a full share which we spit with another couple – and it lasts from June to end of October or beginning of Nov. Totally affordable and worth the cost!!
I made this tonight – I wonder if I’m part of a small set of ELS followers that actually cooks your recipes? Anyway, since coconut oil is 85% saturated fat, I used Canola oil – and isn’t it unpatriotic of you not to? 😉 I know Canola is flavorless and I’m sure coconut oils is tasty but I figured that the sauce would impart sufficient spice.
For me, the revelation of this recipe was that I didn’t need to pre-steam the veggies, which saved time and still tasted great. And Judy said “this is very tasty” which is akin to a four star review from the New York Times for me…
Aw Robert, you are one of my favorite commenters! I LOVE that you regularly make my recipes (though I think someone on twitter beat you to it on the cookies). Anyway, thanks for the kind words on my recipes. As for the recipe, all the vegetables are pretty quick cooking – and the carrots are sliced thin to make them cook even quicker. Hooray for 4 star reviews 😉
I’m new to cooking and am trying this right now! 🙂 Wanted a little more curry flavor so might use more if I make it again. Wasn’t sure when to put in the ginger so I put it into the curry sauce. My end result wasn’t nearly as attractive as yours but it tasted okay. Thanks for so many recipes for me to try!
Giselle, oops you are so right! I forgot to add the ginger, but it goes right in with the lemongrass and sauce. This is easy to adjust, so go ahead and add in more curry next time. I use a paste and all brands are different in terms of heat and flavour. Thanks for stopping by!
Made this the other night and it was delicious! I used a Cape Malay curry powder (from South Africa), and added tofu which I pan fried first. Also, couldn’t find fresh lemongrass at the grocery store, but they had diced lemongrass so used that. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Sara, so glad you enjoyed this! Love the addition of tofu!
What a perfect way to use up tons of veggies! I’m part of the same CSA and as I was reading through your posts I was getting confused with the stuff you were receiving because we received different things. I just realized that it’s because I’m so behind on blog reading though haha.
So funny that we’re part of the same CSA! I recently found someone on twitter who follows me who also uses nathan creek and loves my recipes because they relate to her share!
Wow that looks amazing!!!!!!!!! That CSA sounds great.
This looks fantastic, I love fresh flavours and meals with laods of vegetables so this looks perfect! It looks like the curry wouldn’t be too over powering and drown out the flavours of the veg.
Great photos too, this is such a gorgeous site xx
I’m excited to make this, but am wondering- how does it do as leftovers? If I make extra and put it in the fridge, do you think the noodles will get too soggy?
Thanks!
Gen, the noodles will be a big soggier, but I don’t really notice it. I loved eating the leftovers, so I’m sure it will do fine!