Thai-style, Spicy Eggplant-mushroom Sauce

Many of the pulpiteers of the past fifty years acted as though the first and last object of their calling was the salvation of souls, everything being made to bend to that aim. In consequence, the feeding of the sheep, the maintaining of a Scriptural discipline in the church, and the inculcation of practical piety, was crowded out; and only too often all sorts of worldly devices and fleshly methods were employed under the plea that the end justified the means; and thus the churches were filled with unregenerate members. In reality, such men defeated their own aim. The hard heart must be ploughed and harrowed before it can be receptive to the gospel seed. Doctrinal instruction must be given on the character of God, the requirements of his Law, the nature and heinousness of sin, if a foundation is to be laid for true evangelism. It is useless to preach Christ unto souls until they see and feel their desperate need of him.

A.W. Pink

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Dairy, Eggs	Thai	Digest, Fatfree, Thai	1	Servings

INGREDIENTS

1/2	lb	Mushrooms
1		Shallot
2		Garlic cloves
1/2	t	Hunan style red chili paste
1 1/2	c	Rice milk or milk
		substitute
1	lb	Eggplant
1		Red bell pepper
1/2	c	Chopped asparagus stems
		originally this was
		peas
1/2	c	Fresh basil leaves
2	t	Sugar
1/2	t	Plum sauce
1/2	t	Ginger
1/4	c	Veggie stock
2		3 drops toasted sesame oil
2	t	Tapioca flour, see note

INSTRUCTIONS

Mince garlic and shallot; quarter mushrooms, dice eggplant into 1-inch
cubes and slice red bell pepper into long strips.  In a large frying
pan, on medium head add stock and mushrooms.  Simmer for 5 minutes or
until mushrooms are tender and brown.  Remove  mushrooms and set aside.
In remaining stock add shallot and garlic,  sautee for 1-2 minutes.
Add chili paste and milk.  Bring mixture to  a boil then reduce heat
and simmer on low for 5 minutes, stirring  often. Add sugar, plum sauce
and sesame oil (only a few drops!  It's  amazing the flavor it adds).
Add eggplant, asparagus stems and red  bell pepper. Bring mixture back
up to a boil.  Cover and simmer for  15 minutes stirring occasionally
until eggplant and asparagus are  tender. In the last 5 minutes add
mushrooms and fresh basil leaves.  Serve over grilled polenta (recipe
follows) or rice and the steamed  asparagus tips.  Note: When I made
this recipe I felt that the sauce was too thin.  The  original recipe
called for coconut milk and olive oil as the sauce's  base. How I
remedied this problem was as follows: I removed all the  vegetables
from the pan using a slotted spoon and turned the heat  down to the
lowest setting.  I placed them in the serving bowl and  set aside. In a
measuring cup I added 1/3 cup cold water and 2  heaping teaspoons of
tapioca flour (not pearls).  Once this was  thoroughly mixed I poured
it into the sauce while stirring with the  slotted spoon. In less than
a minute the sauce had thickened very  nicely.  I then poured the sauce
into the bowl over the vegetables  and served. It was pleasantly spicy
(go light on the red chili paste  if you dislike REALLY hot foods) and
filling.  Note2:  if you wanted to be more authentic you could try
adding some  coconut extract...  From: J. Ari Kornfeld
<ari@sibari.isl.sri.com>.  Fatfree Digest  [Volume 8 Issue 54] June 15,
1994. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34,  TXFT40A@Prodigy.com using
MMCONV  File
ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/fatfreex.zip

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients) ---------------------------------------------- Calories: 547 Calories From Fat: 74 Total Fat: 8.8g Cholesterol: <1mg Sodium: 750.5mg Potassium: 3390.9mg Carbohydrates: 99.1g Fiber: 42g Sugar: 34.7g Protein: 35.5g