cook: thai red curry

I had half a kabocha squash and then some, leftover from Japanese tempura, and I knew I wanted to cook a Thai red curry rather than green (which was in my pantry) with the rest of it. Luckily when I went to Safeway to get cooking oil for my tempura, I also bought a small jar of the prik gaeng or vegan curry paste of red chilies (the prik), shallots, and spices like galangal(ginger)and herbs like lemongrass made for Western palates called fittingly Thai Red Curry. Besides the tiny jar of red curry paste, my mise en place included coconut oil, Thai purple and Italian basil, a jar of shitake mushrooms, colanders of red bell pepper, cauliflower, broccoli and kabocha squash cut into bite-sized pieces, chicken thighs also cut into bite-sized pieces, kaffir lime leaves, palm sugar, a can of coconut milk, chicken broth (just in case I wanted the curry to have a lighter consistency), fish sauce and lemon grass.        

I've come a long way from the days of cooking a Thai curry from only a can of curry paste, coconut milk and brown sugar (because I think the fish sauce was already in the curry paste or maybe cooked without that salty umami), summer squash and cut-up chicken breast. I made myself a cocktail of gin and juice or passionfruit ginger beer and gin with a hefty squeeze of fresh lime juice. Luckily I already had the jasmine rice cooked, leftover from the Japanese meal of tempura and karaage.

I sautéed the red curry paste in coconut oil, followed in a quick succession by the chicken and kabocha squash to sauté longer and absorb the flavors of the curry paste. And then the coconut milk, fish sauce and palm sugar. I planned to add the fresh basil at the very end of the cooking.

 

I let the chicken and the squash simmer in the flavored coconut milk for some 40 minutes (wish I had thought to add the fresh Birdseye chilies too in the fridge which I'll have to remember to throw in the freezer with the rest of the kaffir lime leaves)before adding the bell pepper and broccoli and cauliflower, which I knew would only take 5 minutes to get tender over the medium high heat.

When all the vegetables were tender but still vibrant in color, I turned off the stove and sprinkled the basil into the curry to wilt in the residual heat.

 

I don't normally cook on a Monday night, but Patrick suggested I take a day off from the gym and do laundry instead, which I suppose is a minor workout.

The Thai red curry was delicious. The sauce had a nice consistency, not too thin and not too thick, and flavored the rice well. Next time though I'll need to add the Birdseye chilies because I would've liked the sauce a lot more spicy.