vegetarian asian recipes...anyone?

[Sweetum]

I LOVE Thai food, but I always find it difficult to order vegetarian. DH and I found a place and they now know that when we say vegetarian, we mean, no meat, no meat broth or stock, no fish oil. Since DH and I are ok with egg, we sometimes eat fried rice with egg. Vegetarian preference aside, I also think it's difficult to eat healthy (and this applies to all food) when eating out - I have no control on the amount of oil, salt etc. I tried stir fries at home, but they turned out, well, blah. Looking for some good Asian cuisine recipes, Thai would be bonus, that I can make at home. I live in the SF BA, so, there's no way I won't find any ingredients. The only condition is that it all has to be vegetarian. Looking forward...

ETA: think I should mention that I'm Asian Indian, so Indian curries are out of scope :D

[weech]

Can you use typical Thai recipes and sub the meat for tofu and the broth for veggie broth? My SIL is vegetarian and I do that a lot for her.

I made this Thai dish (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/03/thai-coconut-curry-shrimp.html) a week or so ago with sugar snap peas and it was awesome. Added some sriracha for a bit more kick. You could use tofu and leave out the fish sauce if you can't eat it. Also super healthy.

[Sweetum]

hmmm, this sounds yummy. Could you please post a recipe? yes, I do order thai food wit tofu. But I always feel that the tofu in the curry is different from the tofu bought in a grocery store. Maybe it's fried? yes, no fish sauce either. Is there a good substitute? And I don't use veggie broth/stock. Would the dish taste better with it vs plain water? thanks.

[citymama]

You need to get a Thai Vegetarian cookbook! We love making our own Thai food. You can also buy the little cans of Thai curry paste without fish sauce -- the brand is Maesri, they cost under $1 each, and they sell them at 99 Ranch and Asian grocery stores. You can *definitely* find them all over the place in the Bay Area. The vegetarian ones are they green curry, red curry and Pad Prig King; the others have fish sauce.

I have this Thai vegetarian cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811811514/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1862055807&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=10REXE84RWEQ7SS9P860 and DH cooks from it sometimes, although we usually substitute the home-made curry pastes with the cans - the last time he tried grinding up red chillies, DD started to cry that her eyes were burning, and we all coughed for hours!

I've heard good things about this one as well: http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Vegetarian-Cooking-Vatcharin-Bhumichitr/dp/1862055807

My favorite Thai recipe is Mark Bittman's Thai roasted root vegetable curry (http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-World--Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0394748670/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296812070&sr=1-2). Seriously, we eat it once a week. So good!

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian or World of the East vegetarian are also great cookbooks, although not too many Thai options:
http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-World--Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0394748670/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296812070&sr=1-2

ETA girlfriend, you and I are up waaay too late!

[weech]

hmmm, this sounds yummy. Could you please post a recipe? yes, I do order thai food wit tofu. But I always feel that the tofu in the curry is different from the tofu bought in a grocery store. Maybe it's fried? yes, no fish sauce either. Is there a good substitute? And I don't use veggie broth/stock. Would the dish taste better with it vs plain water? thanks.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/03/thai-coconut-curry-shrimp.html

I don't think that one uses broth, so you're good. For fish sauce, I've heard you can use a splash of soy sauce with a bit of lime juice, or soy sauce and vegetarian Worcestershire sauce. It won't taste quite the same, but I doubt you'll notice :)

[Sweetum]

thanks for all the suggestions. will definitely get one of those cookbooks and the preprepped curry packets...thanks a lot!

citymama, the only time lately to spend quality time on the boards is laaaaate night. oh well...:)