Red Curry Coconut Quiche

I’ve been trying to reduce my overall dairy intake, as I’ve found it leads me to weight gain and acne break outs in anything more than very small doses, so I’ve been working with coconut milk a lot lately.  It’s delicious, and a great replacement for dairy milk and cream, but it does have a distinctive flavor, so, unless you are working with really strongly flavored ingredients, it’s easiest to embrace the cuisines that have traditionally cooked with coconut (largely east Asian and Pacific rim countries).  This is a very easy recipe that uses a pre-mixed Thai curry paste to cut the time required, but beefs it up (no pun intended) with some fresh ingredients.  Enjoy!  

Ingredients

For the filling:

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 hot peppers, minced (you can use any type you like from chilis to jalapenos; I favor serranos)

1/2 lb ground beef

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 handful of spinach

s&p (if you can find them, smoked peppercorns make a really nice addition here)

 

For the custard:

8 eggs

1 can full-fat coconut milk

2 Tbsp red curry paste (Thai kitchen makes a nice one)

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a large skillet, melt the oil and heat it until it starts to bubble gently.  Add the onion, garlic, and peppers and sautee until fragrant.  Next, add the beef, breaking it into small bits as it browns.  When the beef is browned, add the tomato, and season everything with salt and pepper.

Next, in a small saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a simmer, add the curry paste, and whisk until the paste breaks up and dissolves into the coconut milk.  Remove from heat and let the spiced coconut milk cool a bit.

While the coconut milk cools, break the eggs into a big bowl and scramble them thoroughly with a whisk or fork.  Add the coconut milk mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the filling from the skillet, draining the excess liquid (which you can save and use an excellent gravy for another dish), and put it, along with the spinach, into a 9-inch spring-form pan (spring-form pans look like regular cake rounds, but have detachable sides – they’re a great investment as they allow you to remove baked goods from the pan with virtually no chance of breaking or otherwise deforming them).  Pour the custard over the filling and pop that sucker into the oven for 50 minutes, or until the top is browning and a toothpick inserted into the quiche comes out clean.  Let it cool completely before attempting to slice it, as it will continue to cook while it cools.  Serves 8.

Nutrition (whole quiche): 2423 calories, 111 g protein, 178 g fat, 70 g carbs.

Nutrition (1 slice): 303 calories, 14 g protein, 22 g fat, 9 grams carbs.