curry!

my little thai princess missionary companion taught me to make thai curry just like her mom does.

are you scared of curry? some people really are... but just trust me... it's awesome.


while pregnant with daphne, i had to take a break from thai food and pad thai still makes me queezy though I'll make it for nic on occasion- but, i've just gotten back into making curry. As to not be wasteful of the open jar of curry- i've made it 4 times in the past 10 days. woahhh that's a lot of curry. Good thing we love it.


Here is my [adapted from sister joysakoo] thai red curry recipe:

[makes 5 bowl-full servings]

-------ingredients--------
2 T. vegetable oil
3 t. red curry paste [see pic]
2 cans coconut milk [i prefer light and can't taste a difference]
1/2 can bamboo shoots [fancy!.. they say that on the can. it's awesome] cut into matchsticks
1 red pepper sliced thin
1/4 C. brown sugar [plus maybe a little more to taste]
ground chili paste to taste [we add maybe 2 t. but warning.. it's HOT]
you don't have to add a protein but we like 2 chicken breasts
salt to taste

above- red curry paste. below- ground chili paste. sometimes it doesn't have the gold label, this must be the wonka edition.

I like recipes with lots of pictures- so nic documented the process as i made it yesterday.

first, do all your prep.
cut the peppers, bamboo shoots and open your cans.
put about 2 cups of jasmine rice in a rice cooker. YUM
for the chicken- i like to cut it into VERY thin slices- this way you don't have big chunks of chicken that don't have much flavor. I defrost my chicken about 1/2 as long as i normally would so it's still pretty frozen. Then, you can basically make little shaved pieces of chicken.. this way it cooks almost instantly and soaks up all the curry flavor.


in a large pot heat oil on med heat and add curry paste. my companion's instructions were: "cook till smells good" i thought that sounded funny- but it's true- just wait till you smell it, it's divine!

add both cans of coconut milk and stir till combined

add chicken and bamboo shoots.

stir often
add red peppers in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

let it simmer till vegetables are al dente and chicken is cooked through.
(i usually let it simmer for about 20 minutes or so)

then, stir in brown sugar and start tasting! if you would like it hotter, add ground chili paste.
if you think it needs a little extra sweetness, add a little more brown sugar. then add about 1/2 t. salt or just enough to make it awesome!

[daph helping me in the kitchen]

serve a bowl of curry and a bowl of rice. some people dump all their rice into their curry, i prefer to do the combining 1 bite at a time. you'll find you're rhythm.


make it! then tell me about it!