Izzy's Culinary Adventures in Queens

When two or more people meet and interact, they affect and change each other--how about when two or more peoples meet?

Monday, February 15, 2010

Thai Green Curry

In my travels to my local Chinese grocery store, The Great Wall, I found some cans of Thai curry paste. These seemed like a low-cost and easy way to try preparing some of the curry dishes to see if I liked them. I don't have the highest opinion of canned goods, but for experimentation it should be fine and also, foreign folks cooking for themselves prize convenience as much as anyone else. These curry pastes were MAESRI brand, a product of Thailand, and not found in the usual supermarkets. I had a some boneless chicken breasts in the fridge (an extravagance my wife will spend on, though I generally won't. I probably should.), so I decided to try a green curry chicken recipe. I scanned my Thai cookbook (previously mentioned in this blog) for a recipe and quickly noted that it essentially involved making curry paste and adding a few other basics: like fish sauce and coconut milk. A key ingredient in the curry paste was cilantro, so I decided to boost the canned green curry paste with a cube of sofrito--also previously mentioned in this blog.

The process was roughly as follows: I sauteed the diced chicken breast in olive oil, ginger-garlic paste (previously mentioned in this blog, or PM), a diced 1/2 onion ( a shallot would be nicer.), 2 tbsp's of fish sauce and 2 tbsp.'s of green curry paste. I added a can of coconut milk and towards the end of the the cooking process I added a cube of sofrito--mission accomplished! I threw in some peas for color and to pretend I was getting my vegetables, but that's really optional. I served it over short-grain brown rice, which I think is a healthy choice and I like it. Use whatever rice you like. Oh, by the way, this stuff is spicy!