Green Coconut Curry with Pan Seared Pork Chops

When it comes to cooking dinners for our family, I am usually looking to do one or two adventurous recipes every couple of weeks.  So when I saw a recipe for Coconut Green Curry on Tawnee Prazak's blog a couple weeks ago, I added it to my proverbial "to cook" list.  You can read her post regarding this recipe HERE.  Sarah and I love international food, especially oriental and Thai flavors - not to leave out Latin.  The added bonus was that I follow a diet very similar to what Tawnee follows - therefore, this recipe has no gluten and is all natural and with no added sugar or other unnatural ingredients.  Also, as far as I'm aware, this would also qualify as Paleo.

The recipe looked moderately easy and quick so we gave it a shot last night.

Ingredients

1 Medium Eggplant, cut into 1" cubes

1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped

4-6 Green Onions, chopped

1 1/2 Cups Celery Root, cut into 1/2-1" cubes*

1 Handful Italian Parsley, coarsely chopped

2 Handfuls Cilantro, coarsely chopped

3-4 tbsp Green Curry Paste - I used "Thai Kitchen" brand

1 Can Coconut Milk

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Turmeric

Salt & Pepper to taste

Coconut Oil

1 Spaghetti Squash, cooked and shredded to make "noodles"

Boneless Pork Chops

Optional - 1 tsp Curry Powder, Red Pepper Flakes

*By complete accident I bought actual celery instead of celery root, so I used 1 1/2 cups of chopped celery instead of chopped celery root.

Directions

Green Curry

1. Rinse and chop all vegetables.  Heat large frying pan or wok on medium high heat and add ~1 tbsp of coconut oil and let melt.  Add celery root to frying pan and allow to cook down.  (~3-5 minutes).  Continue to add vegetables to frying pan, allowing each of them to cook down.  Add additional coconut oil as you see fit to prevent vegetables from sticking and burning.  The Parsley and Cilantro should be the last 2 ingredients you add to the frying pan.
2. Turn the head down to low and continue to simmer.  Add about 3/4 of the can of coconut milk along with 2-3 tbsp of the green curry paste.  Allow vegetables to absorb the milk and paste, creating a thick consistency.  Add spices and green onions.
3. After all of the milk and paste has been absorbed and the vegetables look fully cooked, added final 1/4 of the can of coconut milk and any additional curry paste.  Continue to taste test the curry as additional curry paste will increase the spiciness.  Add the spaghetti squash noodles and allow the curry to thicken and fully heat through.  

Pork Chops

1. To pan sear the pork chops, cut any excess fat off of the pork chops prior to cooking.
2. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and add ~1 tbsp coconut oil to pan and allow it to melt.
3. Add the pork chops to pan and let cook for about 3-4 minutes per side or until fully cooked and a light brown sear marks appear on each side.

Serve the curry on the side of the pork chops and top the curry with a light sprinkling of any saved/remaining parsley, cilantro, and green onions.

The meal turned out great!  It was a bit too spicy for the girls, so they just ate the pork chops with some other fruit and vegetables we had around the house.  The pork chops went along with the curry perfect.  I suppose you could use any meat source of your liking to use as a side with the curry.  Had I known that the girls were not going to be eating the curry I would have also added the curry powder to the vegetables while they were cooking, live and learn I guess...  Here are some pictures of the cooking process.