A Witch's View - Blue Apron Review - Laotian Vegetable Laab

Continuing my review of Blue Apron. Today I'm reviewing the Laotian Vegetable Laab with Soy-Glazed Mushrooms and Coconut Rice. The dish is about 720 calories and packed with tons of vitamins as well as flavor.

A few negatives though.  My shipment arrived on Friday and I cooked this dish Monday morning.  My herbs were a bit wilted. They still had flavor but I was sad to see them all limp and soggy in the container.  The coconut milk powder was really hard to reconstitute.  I was whisking until my arm was tired and there was little lumps in the milk.  I would suggest that they just give you a can of coconut milk and be done with it.

Tips for those cooking this - When I started making my carrot marinade that it was too dry.  When you add the sugar and the little bits of lime juice it looks more like a paste.  Don't panic.  Just put the carrots in there and let it do its thing.  The lime juice reacts with the sugar and makes a really nice marinade.  You just need to give it a little bit of time.

Ok, let's get on with the steps for making this dish. Everything comes in the exact measurements that you need to complete the dish.  Before you freak out about waste, Blue Apron offers a recycling program.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson



The first thing we do is our mise en place.  Washed, peeled, picked and chopped everything that needed it.

I think started with that coconut milk powder.  Yeah it's ugly.  I whisked and whisked and whisked. When I make this again, I'll just use regular coconut milk and be done with it.  After I whisked a bit more I got this in the post with the rice to cook.  A tip here, when the timer went off, I thought the rice wasn't done yet, as there was some moisture on top. I opened the stop and gave it a stir and the right was fine.  It cooks differently in coconut milk than water.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

I mixed my sugar and lime juice together and added my carrots.  As you can see it looks like, "Umm where's the marinade?"  But the sugar breaks down with the lime juice and creates great flavors.  Also I used very little of the Serrano pepper. I think next time I'll add a bit more of the seeds/ribs to bring up the heat a little bit.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Next I added some olive oil to my pan and started the mushrooms browning.  I cut mine really thin, as I hate mushrooms.  Here's another ingredient that I can't stand but I'm going to try it anyway because that's what this is all about.  Trying new things and challenging my taste buds.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
While the mushrooms are browning I started on the peanut butter sauce.  The soy glaze was a bit tough to get out of the little bottle but over all easy peasy.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 Next, put the mushrooms in the glaze bowl, wipe out the pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and repeat with the broccoli.  Only this time after they're brown, you'll add some water to finishing cooking them a bit.  I actually added more water to mine to soften them a bit more.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
After the broccoli is finished add it to the bowl with the mushrooms and sauce and stir around to evenly coat everything.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 And tada!  You're done.  Here's the finished dish. I was really surprised that I liked this. The mushrooms weren't too mushroomy and the carrots added a great crunch.  I will also add that I have never used a cabbage as a wrap component and this was simply amazing. Savoy cabbage is my new favorite cabbage.  Green cabbage is really strong and sometimes bitter when you have it raw, but Savoy cabbage was fantastic. I really enjoyed this offering from Blue Apron.  Much better than the salmon dish we tried last time.  This one I'll be saving to make again and again.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Next time we're making Falafal!

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