Vegetarian Thai Chili with Bulgur

So back in December I made this chili recipe from Clean Eating magazine with ground turkey for my Xmas party and it turned out really well.  It could have used a bump in the spice department for me, but that is easily achieved.  Also I found it a bit odd that there was no use of kafir lime, cilantro or fish sauce in a Thai recipe...huh?  So this time I modified things more to my taste.

This is the first time I am cooking with bulgur.  To be honest, the only reason I didn't make the recipe with bulgur originally back in December was that my local grocery store didn't have it!  Well, since then I have bought some and I thought I'd try this recipe out again.  Nothing better than a belly-warming chili to chase away the -20 temperatures in Toronto (-33 with the windchill....brrrr).  Sadly I have to be careful with the heat if there is any chance that the youngest will eat it.  The Teen is all about the heat, like us, but sometimes I think Justin was switched at birth!  I guess I'll give him a few more years to catch up with us on the Scoville scale.

Vegetarian Thai Chili with Bulgur

4 tsp thai red curry paste (mine seemed very mild heat wise so use your judgement here)
2-3 Thai bird chilis or more (to your desired heat)
2 tsp ground cumin
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup uncooked bulgar
1 large green or red pepper, chopped
1 can of kidney beans, drained
3 kafir lime leaves (optional)
1 cup light coconut milk
2 cups tomato purée or passata
2 green onions, choppped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp fish sauce

In a medium sized pot, add curry paste, cumin and 1/4 cup stock.  Stir mixture until curry paste dissolves slighty. Add remaining broth, bulgur and red pepper.  Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, then cover tightly with a lid, reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

Add beans, coconut milk and tomato purée to the pot and cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until bulgur is tender and chili has thickened.  Stir in fish sauce right before serving.  Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with green onions and more cilantro to serve.

Cook's Note:  I made the mistake of using a store bought commercial brand so the curry was very mild.  Store bought is ok but you won't get the heat unless you use a proper brand like Mae Sri.

Why did I not make my own like the one that Don Duong taught me in my Thai cooking classes years ago?!?!  If I remember correctly Don was born in Vietnam but was raised in Thailand and learned to cook Thai by his grandmother, whose recipes he taught my friend Ann and I at George Brown College.  Don is an amazingly accomplished pastry chef who was a pastry chef for the Metro Convention Centre at the time, but now owns his own successful business at Dessert Trends which has a commercial location on Weston Road amazingly around the corner from where I live currently and a new location on Harbord Street.  I still use his family recipes for Thai food and will always know because of him that Pad Thai does not use ketchup!