Asian groceries and pumpkin puree

Inspired by Slice Of Seoul I decided to pay my local Asian supermarket a visit. This is what I came back with:

- A jar of Kimchi (Korean!)

- Okra

- Thai broccoli

- Coriander leaves

- 2 Small butternuts

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to cook with these, but I might try making a lovely Thai/Korean dish, served with Kimchi on the side, of course. I think I'm going to stir-fry the broccoli with some Thai red curry paste, and add sesame chicken strips and fresh coriander.

The okras will make a good Indian curry another day, together with some onion and small chunks of pumpkin.

You'll probably see what I turned these veggies into later this week.

Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish, the main ingredient is napa (or Chinese) cabbage. I've never tried it, so I can't tell you what it tastes like just yet. According to this Wikipedia article it's really healthy! I can't wait to try it. The only thing non-Paleo about it, is that it's made using quite a large amount of salt. Since I never add salt to anything anymore, I guess it won't do much harm having it just this once.

Today I made myself some pumpkin puree, using Kelly's idea, on her website The Spunky Coconut. It was so easy! I just popped the whole pumpkin into the oven (200 degrees Celsius), left it in there for an hour, let it cool, and I could easily peel the skin off. Even the seeds were really easy to scoop out and, using my new hand blender, a puree was made in just a few secs.

I added some ginger and cinnamon, to have it with some stir-fried broccoli and yellowfin sole fillets. Quite a simple meal, but satisfying. The puree combined nicely with the broccoli and fish, although I usually prefer more daring flavours. Let's just say I went Dutch today! (in other words; I made a boring meal)
I'm going to use the leftover puree in a whole different way though! I think I'm going to make muffins out of it.

So I've got loads of new cooking and baking ideas for the upcoming week. I certainly won't get bored after work!