Recipe: curry

[sofiaviolet]

I am so proud of myself, y'all. After months of trying, I finally have something that is seriously tasty, albeit not as good as restaurant food. Much cheaper, though.

Thai curry

Ingredients (per serving)

½ can (approx. 7 oz) coconut milk

0 to 6 birdseye chili peppers or similar, according to taste (I use 4)

dried basil, lots

fish sauce

½ to ¾ tbsp curry paste

one chicken breast fillet or one half boneless thigh, sliced

red, orange, and/or yellow bell pepper (about ¼ to ½ of a pepper), sliced

½ to 1 cups rice

Directions

1. Possibly begin making rice.
2. Coconut milk in saucepan of appropriate size.
3. Add chilis, fish sauce (about ½ tbsp, but I eyeball it), and curry paste. Stir for a little bit.
4. Basil. Make a little mound, then stir it in. I would recommend overdoing the basil rather than underdoing it.
5. You should probably make the rice here if you didn't earlier.
6. Let the coconut milk etc. sit over low heat. Turn the burner off if it starts to froth.
7. About five minutes before the rice is done, add the chicken and bell pepper and possibly nudge the heat up a bit (or turn it back on if you had to turn it off earlier).
8. Serve and eat.

I give per-person ingredients because I haven't found a way to make the leftovers good (the chicken always tastes funny, so vegetarian versions might reheat just fine), and I only make this for myself because Ellie hates coconut milk.

Comments

[stultiloquentia]

Mmm, Thai curry. I add ginger and lime juice to mine.

[sofiaviolet]

Oooh, both good ideas. I have lime juice (bottled, alas) and could acquire ginger. I have been leaving out the lime juice since a rather disastrous attempt that gave me lime sauce with curry flavoring.

[trixtah]

Ginger might be in the curry paste already, but more is good and galangal is even better. If you can get a fresh lime, they're a lot safer to cook with than that bottled juice - I don't know what they do to it, but it's way too concentrated.

Three more hints - if you have the time and energy, make your own paste. It is WORTH it, especially if you make a bulk load and freeze it in little containers (I actually keep my paste in the fridge in a jar with a little oil on top, but you may want more security).

No matter what the paste, though, I suggest getting a very small tin of coconut cream - or using the thick part of your coconut milk if it has a thick part in the tin - and frying that up by itself first. Once the oil starts separating, then add the curry paste and chilli and fry it all together until the aromas come out. You can either then proceed as you normally do, or immediately add chicken and/or fried tofu and the fish sauce and fry together with the paste until almost cooked, then add the basil, peppers and waterier coconut milk and simmer briefly till it gets the right consistency.

Finally, you can actually make it with cow's milk and cream for those who don't like the coconut. Sometimes just substituting out some of the coconut makes a sufficient difference, or sometimes you need to use entirely cow's milk. Use a little cream to do the paste frying, then add as much as needed to get the right consistency with either a mixture of normal milk and coconut, just the watery coconut milk, or just the normal milk.

I personally don't like the normal milk addition because I'm sensitive to it, but for those who dislike coconut, it apparently works really well.

Yum, I know what I'm making for dinner next weekend when I'm back home from travelling!

[sofiaviolet]

My one and only attempt to add lime to curry was with a fresh lime, actually! I used more of it than I needed for the amount of food I was making, oops. /o\

I don't have the time and energy right now, but I could probably manage it at some future date, and I actually have a recipe (although if you'd recommend a specific recipe, feel free to link me! I will merge them as appropriate). How large are the containers I should be freezing it in? I have a bunch of jars that used to contain commercial curry paste that I haven't gotten around to recycling yet.

Oh yes, my coconut milk has a thick part. *holds a grudge against Lite anything* Although I'm not sure what you mean by frying it up separately?

[redsnake05]

Coconut milk curries are always so delicious, particularly with extra basil. I'd be tempted to put some lime juice in there too, I think.

[sofiaviolet]

I've been scared of lime juice since accidentally overdoing it to a disgusting degree, but I do have a bottle of lime juice that isn't getting used, so I might as well see whether I can make it work.