Simple Peanut Curry

At the farmer's market I am frequently seduced by the beauty of vegetables that I'm not quite sure what to do with. Last time it was long beans and Chinese eggplant. This is what I did with them. This tastes exotic but is really easy to make as long as you have lemongrass and coconut cream on hand. I bought a big bundle of lemongrass and froze it; coconut cream is sold at Trader Joe's now. 

Ingredients:
1 small yellow onion
4" piece of lemongrass
1 mild fresh green chili, seeded (but you can adjust this or just take it out if you have small children)
3/4" fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 cup of coconut cream
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 cups of mixed vegetables or a mix of vegetables and meat
1/2 Tablespoon fish sauce
1/3-1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

Directions:
If you are using meat, brown the meat first and set it aside. I've made this with ground beef and stew beef. If you use stew beef, be sure to cut it into much smaller cubes or it will be tough since it doesn't simmer for long. 

To make the sauce, put the onion, lemongrass, chili, ginger, and garlic in a food processor or blender. Process them a little before adding half the coconut cream. Process it again until it's mostly ground up, and then add the rest of the coconut cream, salt, and sugar and blend it until you have a smooth paste. 

Simmer the coconut sauce for 10 minutes. Add about 3/4 cup of water and then add the vegetables and meat. Simmer them until they are tender, then add the fish sauce and peanut butter. Cook it until the peanut butter is thoroughly amalgamated. Add more fish sauce if it isn't salty enough.