Thai green curry (one from the vaults)

one from the vaults

Thai food has only kind of hit as far north as I live. Enough that I remember having Thai food for the first time when I was sixteen. It was when a friend of mine was coping, quite well really, with his parents separation we went to the next town over for some head space. By chance we found ourselves in a restaurant we had taken for Chinese. I remember being genuinely excited at a red curry and sweetcorn fritter (a dragon I am still chasing) with sweet chili sauce that wasn't yet commonplace as it is now it was just different enough. We went back several times a week and tasted everything on the menu. Now Thai curry is a major comfort food for me and I make it with some regularity.

The paste
Garlic, a whole head
Ginger, a plump thumbs worth (roughly chopped)
Galangal, a smaller thumb (if you can get it, roughly chopped)
Spring onion (the green bits)
Two limes (both zest and juice)
Lemongrass (chop this quite small before blending)
Kaffir lime leaf
A big bunch of coriander (it's best if you also have roots in it but that's not how it's typically sold and its not quite worth making a special trip)
Green chilies (I advise against the spicy Thai kind i choose more, milder chilies)
Light soy sauce (dark will ruin the colour)
White pepper (this is really transformational)

Make these ingredients into as fine a paste as you can. I use a blender but this isn't the perfect solution because I have to add water to ease the action of the machine. There is also an order of operations blend lemongrass, kafir lime leaf, ginger and galangal with the soy and lime juice and enough water to ease the formation of a paste. After this add the rest of the softer ingredients. The exact balance of the ingredients is art rather than science but you can never go wrong with more coriander.

Vegetables

You have a lot of latitude here. You can stir fry whatever vegetables (or meat i suppose) then add the paste stir fry for a while before adding coconut milk

Or you could roast pumpkin, fry off the paste add some coconut milk then stir in the pumpkin.

Or chop some root vegetables saute them then add the paste and coconut and gently simmer the vegetables until tender.

Serve with rice. garnish with chopped coriander and sliced spring onion. These days I serve with some kind of pickle or salad.

(We can get that food pretty easily these days, times have changed)

Comments

Cheese Souflee

'It's not posh I promise' ok I know its a soufflé and mostly you see them made by extremely high strung cartoon chefs and deflated by loud noises. and I know French food is often seen as fussy and intricate. My experience of French food is quite different. My mum traveled to France as a young woman and waiting at a ferry terminal for a bus to Dijon looked for a cookbook for French foods to cook at her friends farm house. she had the good fortune to pick up an unfussy volume of what was mostly French peasant cuisine. We still eat meals from it (including our now traditional Christmas eve boeuf bourguignon). growing up we used to have cheese soufflé to use up odds and ends of cheese or to 'tart up a salad' mom makes it now with absolutely no measurements of any kind. serve this with French salads (we have a remoulade, a cucumber crème fresh salad, and a grated carrot, cumin and parsley salad here) This is based on the recipe that is in moms cook book, I've bas...

Jerk halloumi, jerk coleslaw and rice and peas (one from the vaults)

‘A spicy treat’ This is a weekend jerk halloumi. Mid week you would just use any commercial jerk rub most of them are pretty good but the fresh is more vibrant. The side dishes elevate this to the level of a feast. Keep adding people until you have a party. Tastes best from a barbecue Jerk halloumi Ginger (a large thumb, don't bother peeling) Honey A bulb of Garlic (equal to shallots in volume) About two Shallots or scallions One Scotch bonnet (hot as hell but cannot be substituted I have to be strict about this, note from future Jake yes you do loose something if you don't use a scotch bonnet but don't let that stop you from making it without ) Thyme (fresh and stripped off the stems, as much as you can be arsed with about one and a half supermarket bunches, also dried thyme works fine) Lime (both zest and juice) Allspice (also known as pimento) nutmeg (a good grating) cinnamon (a sprinkle) smoked paprika (a teaspoon) Liquid smoke (just a dab if you'r...

Roast onion and rice

'this really packs a punch' This is something simple and delicious that has an almost completely unearned veneer of sophistication. the sauce is the trick here it does a lot of heavy lifting, don't be tempted to douse the dish in the sauce because that will end in a salty mess but rest assured that a drizzle would make even just plain rice an indulgent experience. Ingredients shallots 800g (the long thin ones if you can get them) Cherry tomatoes 250g Curry powder (a spare teaspoon) 4 eggs (right on the far edge of soft-boiled) Soy sauce (good soy sauce, this is one of the central flavors of the dish so go premium) Garlic 5 cloves Ginger 1 Bunch coriander Kafir lime leaf (I recommend frozen over dried) Cornstarch Sugar Toasted sesame oil Neutral oil (just a splash) Sushi rice (cooked to packet instructions, does have to be sushi rice) Pickled radish (I pickled mine with beetroot juice but that was mostly aesthetic) Halve ...

JK's kitchen

Search This Blog