Cook: Thai Red Curry

I love grocery shopping, and though I try to stick to a list, sometimes I’ll put something in my cart on a whim especially if it’s on sale. I think that’s how I ended up with a small jar of Thai red curry paste, which I finally cooked last night. First I sautéed chopped onions and then garlic in coconut oil while in the oven I broiled boneless but not skinless chicken thighs to crisp. I next added the curry paste and coconut milk and the juices from the broiled chicken to make the sauce and then added sliced zucchini, red bell pepper, straw mushrooms, and the chicken thighs. I also put in kaffir lime leaves which had been residing in my freezer as well as lemongrass from a tube and fish sauce.                       

   

I first tasted this cuisine at Marnee Thai in the Inner Sunset of San Francisco in the 90s when I resided there. I loved the complexity of flavors and the raw freshness of its ingredients. Later I had a boyfriend with whom I would trek to a Thai grocery in Berkeley where we bought jars of curry paste, cans of coconut milk and plain brown paper packages of Thai tea, which we would then cook the curry at home with chicken breasts and summer squash and add sweetened condensed milk to the brewed Thai tea. I remember always adding a tablespoon of brown sugar into the coconut milk mixture and not knowing that fish sauce needed to be in the sauce too, but we loved and voraciously consumed our simple takes on a green or red Thai chicken curry anyway. Unfortunately the hubs doesn't really care for Thai food, but fortunately there was leftover chicken pierogi or leftover beer marinated grilled chicken for him to eat instead. And I had made decaffeinated sweet tea but didn't want to give myself diabetes by adding sweetened condensed milk to it too. Also I only had a few leaves of Italian basil in the garden but plenty of cilantro which I sprinkled atop steamed jasmine rice ladled with with the curry vegetables, chicken and sauce. Fiery but delicious.

And I've two more chicken thighs and sauce leftover to which I can add more vegetables for dinners later this week. I also need to remember to hunt for Thai basil plants at the farmers' market.

And after dinner, I bit the bullet and redeemed half of my frequent flier miles for a round trip ticket to Kauai.                  

And put my trip on my calendar.

I also looked at the weather. Lot more temperate than I expected, but I imagine the humidity will make it seem warmer. 

And oh, the app shows the temps of all my favorite cities I've traveled to. I'd been hesitant to fly somewhere, especially with the Delta variant concerns--and so this trip will be my toe in the water tourism.