Swimming Rama is a delicious Thai dish of rice, spinach leaves, meat or tofu, and drowned in peanut sauce (Thus "swimming"). It is a combination of light and fresh from the bed of spinach and rice, with the dense calories and flavors of the peanut sauce and protein.
However, since I wasn't using peanuts, I decided to go with almond butter instead. If you haven't had it, almond butter has the same texture and nutty saltiness as peanut butter, but a lighter sweeter taste. Buuut, it'll cost you an arm and a leg in the store, and we had time to kill, so I bought raw almonds and roasted them.
If you've never roasted nuts before, welcome. I'm quite new to it myself. In this case all I did was put the almonds in a big skillet with a tablespoon of oil, and swirled them around with a spoon on medium high. They'll gradually turn golden brown, take them off before they crisp and burn. I set them to the side to cool off for a bit before throwing them in the food processor.
This is what it looks like when they're chopped nice and fine. You'll want to add just a little bit of oil to smooth it into butter. You don't need very much at all, the almonds have their own oil that will come out and make the butter.
From 1 pound of almonds we yielded about 2 cups of almond butter, but we only need one for the swimming rama, so leftovers for AB&J sandwiches!
With the sauce simmering in the skillet I breaded and fried tofu. The main trick I've learned in frying on the stove with a skillet is to turn up the heat once i put the food in the oil. Proper cooking in oil shouldn't leave the food soggy, but if the oil is too cold it can't cook fast enough.
Once both the sauce and tofu are done, it's time to enjoy! It was a little spicy for Mary. :-) If in doubt about the crushed red pepper it can be added at the table to taste.
That's my favorite dish from Thai Tom's!
ReplyDeleteHa! That's where i learned about it too! You can totally make it with peanut butter if you like
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