THAI CURRY (16 september 2004)
One of the national cuisines that is increasingly appreciated in Europe is the Thai cuisine.
Spices that were hardly available one or two decades ago can now be found in 'tropical' shops or even at some supermarkets.
A very tasty kind of dish is a curry.
Curries derive much of their taste from the special mixture of spices, If you want, you can make your own mixtures. But why go to so much trouble when ready-mixed spices are widely available?
There are a few brands on the market, which are usually too spicy for most Western tastes. For this recipe I'll use green currypaste of the brand Asian Home Gourmet, which I found to have more flavour than most other brands.
Ingredients:
250 g tender beef
1 paksoi cabbage
1 sweet red pepper (paprika)
300 g large mushrooms
2 garlic cloves
¼ to ½ packet of green curry paste (kaang kiew wan)
300 ml coconut milk
½ to 1 stock cube
1 lemon leaf
fish sauce
salt, sugar, oil
When using a mixture of several vegetables it is usually best to try to cut the pieces to more or less the same size, so you don't find most pieces of one vegetable at the top or bottom of the dish.
Cut the paksoi, paprika and mushroom into 1-inch pieces.
Cut the beef to the same length as the pieces of vegetables, but not too thick. Add some salt and pepper and mix well. If you want to avoid the meat sticking to the pan, you can mix in some oil as well.
Heat a tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the beef for about five minutes and set aside.
Don't use the whole packet of curry -- unless you like your curry very hot . Take ¼ to ½ of the green curry paste and fry for a few seconds in half a tablespoon of oil. Then add the coconut milk, a few drops of fish sauce, half the stock cube, the leaf and a teaspoon of sugar. Heat and stir until the paste is dissolved.
lemon leaves
Crush and cut the garlic, or use a garlic press.
Heat a spoonful of oil in a wide non-stick pan or wok, and stir-fry the paprika. Turn down the heat somewhat to avoid burning and continue stir-frying for about one minute. Then turn up the heat again and add the paksoi. Stir-fry for half a minute.
Stir the garlic through the mixture. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for another minute over high heat. Add a little oil if it gets dry.
Add the coconut milk and allow to simmer for one or two minutes.
Serve with boiled or steamed rice, for instance pandang rice.
Variations:
Instead of beef, you can use chicken, pork or lamb.
Other vegetables can also be used, such as celery, carrots (both should be blanched for 3 or 4 minutes). Even cucumber can be used, but you should remove the soft core. Don't use cucumber if you want to use your dish a second day, because it will become soggy.
This curry goes very well with a fresh cucumber salad:
Cucumber salad:
Peel a cucumber, cut it lengthwise in half and cut in thin slices (about three mm thick). Mix with a teaspoon of salt and leave for ten minutes. Add four tablespoons of colourless vinegar and mix. Then drain as much liquid as possible.
Add a little sambal, two tablespoons of sugar and a sprinkling of fish sauce. Mix well.
