Ben’s Home Cooking - Thailand Menu

Thailand Menu

Red or Green Thai Curry

I don’t make my own Thai curry paste because one of the key ingredients, cilantro root, is unobtainable where I live. When it comes to commercial curry paste, Mae Ploy is the brand to get. I haven’t liked any other brand of curry paste I’ve tried, but Mae Ploy is truly excellent.

Green curry is far hotter than red curry. This recipe can also be made with yellow curry paste, in which case you would use potatoes as your only vegetable and omit the basil.

½ pound Chicken or Pork or Prawns
13.5 ounce can Coconut Milk
3 Tablespoons Red or Green Curry Paste
1 cup thinly sliced vegetables; choose from Bamboo Shoots, Carrots, Eggplant, and Zucchini
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
¼ cup Thai Basil

The first step is to get the coconut milk to separate into its thick part and its watery part. You can do this by putting it the refrigerator for a few hours. Put ½ cup of the thick part of the coconut milk in a wok and stir it continuously until it starts to bubble. If coconut milk isn’t being stirred at the moment it comes to a boil it will curdle. Once the it’s bubbling, you need only stir it occasionally. Cook the coconut milk down until the oil separates from it.

Now you fry the curry paste in the concentrated coconut milk until the oil separates a second time. If you’re making chicken or pork curry add the meat to the wok now. Fry the meat until it’s half cooked, then stir in the thin part of the coconut milk.

You must now stir the curry continuously until it begins to bubble, or the coconut milk will curdle. The coconut milk will also curdle if you put a lid on the wok while the curry is cooking.

Once the curry is simmering add the vegetables. Some vegetables cook faster than others, so you should add each type of vegetable separately so that nothing gets overcooked. When the vegetables are done, add the fish sauce and Thai basil. If you’re using prawns, now is the time to add them; they’ll cook just fine without any simmering.

This curry is soup-like. Serve it in bowls with Jasmine rice on the side. The curry can be spooned over the rice as you eat it.