Tuesday, August 24, 2010

August 14, 2010: Thai Green Curry

Lunch aside, we had a fairly quiet Saturday planned, and the post-Rage re-run of Poh's Kitchen inspired me to have a shot at making a curry from scratch. I went for a simple Thai green curry paste, from the BBC website, with just a few convenient tweaks. The paste filled the house with wonderful spicy smells, and will form the base for quite a few future meals (it made a lot more than a single serve!). I was purposefully mild on the chilli in the mix, not wanting to make something that Cindy wouldn't enjoy, but I think this paste could use a bit more punch - maybe a couple of extra whole chillies.

My first use of the paste was in a straightforward Thai curry based on another BBC recipe. I basically swapped out the chicken for some tofu puffs and a range of crispy vegies, to end up with something vaguely healthy. I was a bit heavy-handed with the sugar which, combined with the lack of zing in the chilli paste, meant that this whole meal was a but too sweet and lacking in bite. Still, it was a vegie-rich and flavourful meal and with a few tweaks there's the potential for a winning curry.


Thai Curry Paste

4 green chillies, de-seeded and roughly chopped (I'd up this to 6 or 7 next time)
2 shallots, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
4 garlic cloves, crushed
small bunch of fresh coriander (including stalks and roots)
2 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
1 lime, grated zest and juice
8 kaffir lime leaves
2.5cm piece galangal, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all the above ingredients in a food processor and blend into a thick paste.

Green curry

1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons of the curry paste (maybe 3 would work better)
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
500g tofu puffs
1 small green capsicum, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 small bunch bok choy
4 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces
400ml coconut milk
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
Small handful of coriander, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a wok, and fry the curry paste with the sugar for a minute or two.

Reduce the heat and stir in the tofu puffs, coating them in the curry paste.

Add the coconut milk and soy sauce and bring to a simmer for about 20 minutes or so. Throw in the vegies and stir them through.

Simmer for another 5 minutes or so, until things start to thicken a bit (if you simmer for too long the vegies start to go a bit limp). When you're ready to serve up, stir through the coriander and add more soy sauce to taste.

5 comments:

  1. Hmmmm, I do love me Thai curry, but I'm leery about how long the paste lasts. How much paste was leftover, and how do you think it should be kept?

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  2. Good stuff, Mike the White Alvin.

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  3. Hi Sefie! I think we had up to half a cup of the paste left over and we put it straight in the freezer. We've found that other similar spice pastes freeze and fry without any problems. I've not left them in the fridge for any length of time but a friend of mine recently claimed that her Thai curry pastes are fine for months in there!

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  4. Oh! I'm really impressed! I must admit that I've never made my own green curry paste before. But it's something I'm hoping to change soon. Making things from scratch just seems so much more satisfying!

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  5. Celeste, we'd definitely encourage you to give it a go at least once. :-) It's not too bad if you have a food processor, and making a big batch of paste to freeze makes a couple of future meals easier still!

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