Red Curry Paste &
Country-Style Curry (Baeng Bah)
Red Curry Paste
The curry paste contained dried red chilies (note to self: do not touch any part of face after touching chilis - painful!), peppercorns, coriander seed, cumin, lemongrass, cilantro, ginger (or galangal), lime peel, garlic, shallot, shrimp paste, and salt.
The recipe made about a cup of curry paste which should last for many dishes as most calling for the paste use only 2 - 3 tablespoons. It lasts for a month in the fridge, but I think I might try to parcel it out and freeze it.
Country-Style Curry (Baeng Bah)
Red Curry Paste
A lot of people think that curry is a spice, but it is actually just a mixture of spices. Country-style curry and a lot of the other Thai dishes use red curry paste for flavoring, so that is what I made first. I used a recipe from Real Thai (McDermott) and cheated by using a food processor instead of a mortar and pestle.
The curry paste contained dried red chilies (note to self: do not touch any part of face after touching chilis - painful!), peppercorns, coriander seed, cumin, lemongrass, cilantro, ginger (or galangal), lime peel, garlic, shallot, shrimp paste, and salt.
The recipe made about a cup of curry paste which should last for many dishes as most calling for the paste use only 2 - 3 tablespoons. It lasts for a month in the fridge, but I think I might try to parcel it out and freeze it.
Baeng Bah
(Country-Style Curry)
This is easy to make once you have curry paste on hand and it is lighter than other curries because it does not use coconut milk as a base. You have to saute the paste in vegetable oil for a few minutes, then add the chicken pieces (I used a mix of breast and leg meat, but next time will only use dark meat as it turned out much better). After a few more minutes, you add water and bring to a boil. Next go in the sugar, fish sauce, and vegetables.
For vegetables, I used Thai eggplant, on the left, and green beans. Thai eggplant is officially my new favorite eggplant. It is so pretty and its skin is tender when cooked.
After the vegetables are just about cooked, in go the basil and peppers (chi fah chilies, as in the picture below, or just a regular red pepper) . At the last moment, I tasted and because of the immense heat decided against the chi fah chilies and went for the bell pepper. The chi fahchilies actually aren't all that spicy --not like the little dried chilis that went into the curry paste-- but I was becoming concerned that I might make the dish inedible if I added anymore spice at all.
The finished curry was light, flavorful, and really spicy--borderline too spicy--but I am looking forward to eating it for lunch today with rice.
The recipes above are found in:
Real Thai by Nancie McDermott.
Link of the day: A great article about Sriracha from the NY Times.
(Country-Style Curry)
This is easy to make once you have curry paste on hand and it is lighter than other curries because it does not use coconut milk as a base. You have to saute the paste in vegetable oil for a few minutes, then add the chicken pieces (I used a mix of breast and leg meat, but next time will only use dark meat as it turned out much better). After a few more minutes, you add water and bring to a boil. Next go in the sugar, fish sauce, and vegetables.
For vegetables, I used Thai eggplant, on the left, and green beans. Thai eggplant is officially my new favorite eggplant. It is so pretty and its skin is tender when cooked.
After the vegetables are just about cooked, in go the basil and peppers (chi fah chilies, as in the picture below, or just a regular red pepper) . At the last moment, I tasted and because of the immense heat decided against the chi fah chilies and went for the bell pepper. The chi fahchilies actually aren't all that spicy --not like the little dried chilis that went into the curry paste-- but I was becoming concerned that I might make the dish inedible if I added anymore spice at all.
The finished curry was light, flavorful, and really spicy--borderline too spicy--but I am looking forward to eating it for lunch today with rice.
The recipes above are found in:
Real Thai by Nancie McDermott.
* * * * *
Link of the day: A great article about Sriracha from the NY Times.
"The lure of Asian authenticity is part of the appeal. Some American consumers believe sriracha (properly pronounced SIR-rotch-ah) to be a Thai sauce. Others think it is Vietnamese. The truth is that sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong Foods, may be best understood as an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples."
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