[CH] Easy green curry recipe
David Gallardo (david@gallardo.org)
Thu, 02 Jun 2005 19:31:42 -0600
I discovered something at our local Asian market I thought I'd share:
the Mae Ploy brand of Thai green curry paste. It's great to have on hand
for making easy and authentically hot curry. (If you've been to Thailand
& eaten at a non-tourist restaurant, you know what I mean. I was
impressed and I'm no chile wimp.) A little goes a long way and so far
the jar we bought has made at least about half a dozen meals.
The gist of making any Thai curry sauce is that you first make a paste
by pounding spices, green chiles, shrimp paste etc using a mortar and
pestle. This the raw material for the sauce, and for green curries
requires a number of spices that are hard or impossible to find fresh in
my neck of the woods. (Thai basil, kaffir lime leaves, galanga,
lemongrass.) So this paste is more valuable than just a shortcut.
We use it to make a quick vegetarian dish approximately like this:
Sautee about 2 T of the green curry paste in a couple of T of oil till
fragrant.
Add whatever sliced veggies you like: bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, snow
peas, eggplant, baby corn, serrano, etc. and sautee these till they
start to get tender.
Add pre-fried tofu cubes or chicken and stir in.
Add the clear liquidy part of 1/2 a can of coconut milk
Add 2 T sugar or to taste.
Stir and simmer for 5 min. or so till everything is tender and happy.
Lower heat and add the thick part of the the 1/2 can of coconut milk and
mix in, bring to near simmer. (You need to do this otherwise the sauce
will break.)
Notes:
Adjust the amount of coconut milk to make the sauce as strong or soupy
as you like.
You should probably try it without extra chiles first; the paste is
already pretty hot. We always get carried away with serranos and end up
making it a bit hotter than what we find comfortable, but of course it's
more fun that way!
The main way this differs from an authentic recipe (apart from the
pre-mixed paste & choice of veggies) is that you would normally add more
fresh lemongrass and basil when you add the coconut milk.
@D
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David Gallardo | Author | Consultant
Java, C/C++, database development | Internationalization
Author: Java Oracle Database Development
Lead author: Eclipse in Action: A guide for the Java developer
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