Daily Recipe....Thai Coconut Shrimp with Brown Rice Pasta

Thai cuisine is beloved for its pungent flavors and fiery curries. In this noodle bowl, we’ve used the sweet creaminess of light coconut milk and the good-for-you monounsaturated fat of natural peanut butter to balance the sharper tastes of garlic, ginger and spicy red pepper.

INGREDIENTS

8 oz dry brown rice noodles or pasta of your choice
2 cups broccoli florets
2/3 cup light coconut milk
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp natural peanut butter with sea salt
1 tsp ginger, ground
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 cup bean sprouts
24 medium raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed under cold running water

Preparation

Bring 2 medium pots of water to a boil over high heat. In 1 pot, cook pasta according to package directions, then rinse with hot water to ensure pasta doesn’t get sticky when left to stand. (NOTE: Hot water washes away the starch better than cold water.) Fluff pasta with your fingers or a fork to further de-clump noodles, then set aside. In the second pot of boiling water, add broccoli, cover, turn heat down to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, add coconut milk, tomato paste, peanut butter, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes and lime juice. Use a fork or whisk to thoroughly combine.

Simmer coconut mixture, bell pepper and bean sprouts in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent clumping. Add shrimp and cook for another 2 minutes, then flip shrimp over and continue to cook for a final minute.

Toss noodles and broccoli with coconut-shrimp mixture and serve piping hot.