Thai Coconut Chicken Curry

I love a good curry! There's just something about a nice, rich gravy, flavorful meat, and a good mix of veggies over rice that's  so comforting. 

I normally cook a lot of Japanese or Indian curries but not any Thai.  Not sure if it's  just lack of ingredients or if I just don't think about it, but Thai doesn't  come immediately to mind. Since I don't cook that cuisine that much, i decided to stock my pantry with some staples like lemongrass powder and a Thai curry paste. 

For tonight's dinner, I wanted to something fairly quick. I found a couple of recipes that I decided to combine and tweak and the results were amazing! Definitely a keeper!

---- o o o o ----

Thai Coconut Chicken Curry

(Slightly adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen and Salt & Lavender)

2 medium onions or 1 large onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

8 chicken thighs, cut into 1" pieces

1/2 tsp lemon grass powder, divided

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp minced black garlic or regular garlic

2 tbsp Maesri brand Thai red curry paste

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 to 2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 (13.5 fluid ounces) can full-fat coconut milk or cream

1 cup carrot chips, chopped

1 cup green beans, chopped to 1 in

1 red bell pepper, sliced to 1 in

1 tsp lime juice, or to taste

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 bunch spinach

1 small handful fresh cilantro, chopped

1 small handful fresh basil, chopped

2 stalks scallions, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

In a large saute pan over high heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the chicken and season with salt, pepper, and 1/4 tsp lemongrass powder. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

Increase heat to high and add remaining 1 tbsp oil. When the pan is hot, add onions and a pinch of salt, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until onions begin to soften and brown, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic, turmeric, curry powder, and curry paste until onions are coated.

Add tomatoes and cook until just soft. Add the remaining vegetables and saute until just tender.

Add the fish sauce, coconut milk, and brown sugar. Let it come to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened (add water as needed, if too thick).

Add the chicken back to the pan then add garlic powder and remaining 1/4 tsp lemongrass powder. Stir in lime juice and spinach then cook a few more minutes to soften the spinach. Adjust seasoning as needed with salt and pepper.

Finish the curry by adding the cilantro, basil, and scallions just before serving. 

curry in a hurry.

Whenever I go to the bookstore, I almost always hit up the bargain book section. Call me a cheapskate, but I love me a discount. Especially if it's a cookbook! Now, I know that most of the bargain cookbooks out there are crap, but I love finding one that has a variety of recipes, a nice layout, lots of pictures, and (most importantly) has actual GOOD tasting recipes.

Surprisingly, I found that in Food Lovers: Simply Chicken. The cookbook's divided in three sections with the main course sub-divided even further into types of preparation. The ingredient lists for the recipes were actually surprising; it can call for everyday pantry items to harder to find ethnic ingredients. Instructions are clear and straightforward with approximate cooking and prep times with a picture for every recipe in the the book (which I like, since I'm one of those people that need to see what it's supposed to look like in the end).

Another interesting thing about the book was the variety of recipes it had. It had everything from chicken noodle soup, to chicken korma, to pad thai, to paella. I love the global scope of the recipes and I feel like I can actually successfully make each and every one! For $5.00, this was a great deal!

So, If this was a chicken cookbook, why does it look like I have fish in my curry?? Well, because it is fish. :) A recipe has to be adaptable, in my opinion. Just because it's a chicken cookbook, doesn't mean I have to necessarily use it exclusively for that protein. So when I tested a couple of recipes in the book for different proteins, it passed with flying colors! One such recipe was a "Chicken Curry with Broccoli".

Now, I love me some curry, be it Indian, Thai, what have you. This book has several interesting curries that I'm dying to try out. For "Chicken Curry with Broccoli", I decided to experiment and make it into a fish curry instead (See?! I'm turning pescatarian, I tell you!).

This curry turned out amazing! Going by the ingredient list, I'm guessing this is supposed to be Thai-inspired. The shrimp paste and lime really worked together with the coconut milk to give you that tell-tale Asian flavor. The original recipe actually called for actual chili peppers, but since I didn't have any, crushed red pepper flakes from McCormick made a fine substitute.

And actual kaffir limes? Pfft! Bottled lime juice, my friend, and some regular limes did the trick. Also, since I'm Filipino, I used spicy bagoong for the shrimp paste. From start to finish, this took all of 30 minutes for lick-the-plate-clean goodness! Huzzah for a quick weeknight dinner!

---- o o o o ----

Fish and Vegetable Curry
(adapted from Food Lovers: Simply Chicken)

For the Curry Paste:
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tbsp bottled lime juice
1 tsp spicy shrimp paste (spicy bagoong)

For the Curry:
4 to 5 (5.oz) skinless white fish fillets, about ⅓-inch thick (cod, flounder, catfish, etc . . .)
1 large red onion, sliced
2 scallions, chopped
2 bell peppers, sliced (orange, yellow, and/or red)
1 lbs. broccoli, cut to florets
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 to 1 cup coconut milk
3/4 to 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 tbsp grated ginger
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 a lime plus more for garnish

 
Make the paste:
Put all curry paste ingredients into a small bowl and mix well. Set aside

Make the curry:
In alarge pan, heat oil and saute the onion, broccoli, and bell peppers. Add the curry paste and the scallions, sauteing briefly. Add the coconut milk and chicken broth then simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in the grated ginger then top with the fish fillets. Let cook, turning the fish once, for 8 to 10 minutes or until fish is done. To finish, squeeze 1/2 a lime over the curry then season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve with rice and an additional wedge of lime for garnish. Makes about 4 servings.

Note: If the gravy is too thin, add a little cornstarch with water to achieve desired consistency.

naan the better.

last night i decided that i was going to try my hand at making some curry and naan bread again. i really love indian food with all it's spices and robust richness. trouble is...i really can't seem to get it quite right. so frustrating. the last time i made some indian food, i ended up with a less than satisfying concoction that really frustrated me (the naan in particular). the curry itself was alright, the naans just sucked. :/

this time around, it was switched...i got the naans perfect but the curry recipe i tried was okay. definitely a more "inspired" dish than actual indian. and i think i really prefer a vegetable, fish, or chicken curry as opposed to beef. it was okay...again not what i was looking for.

well, to be fair, i didn't really follow directions for the beef curry. i felt it was all meat so i added some more veggies (namely the chunks of onion and green bell peppers) and used a full can of coconut cream. AND i threw it in a slow cooker. *sigh* the naans, however, were delicious! i deviated just a little bit from the recipe by adding some coconut oil to the mix (see a theme here? lol), subbing 1/2 cup with some whole wheat flour, and gave it a thirty minute second rise before rolling out the dough. i think that helped with making it soft and chewy and much easier to work with. also, i think by adding the coconut oil, it was easier to roll between two sheets of wax paper as opposed to adding more flour which could've possibly made it more dense. the naan recipe was killer and i'm definitely going to keep it as my go-to for naan bread!

 

Indian Spiced Beef Curry
(from Ocado)

900g lean beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2½ cm fresh root ginger, peeled
4 tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
2 fresh hot red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
150ml double cream
1 handful fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)

1.) Put the beef, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, and oil in a bowl, and mix thoroughly. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the spiced beef, and sauté for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the pan, and set aside.

2.) In a food processor, whiz the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and chillies until minced. Add to the same frying pan as used for the beef, and cook for about 5 minutes over a medium heat. Stir in the cream, add 150ml (5fl oz) water, and bring to the boil. Return the meat to the pan, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer for 15–20 minutes.

3.) Stir through the chopped coriander (if using), and serve immediately.

 

Yeasted Naan
(from Journey Kitchen)
Makes 6

2 cups bread flour or strong white flour or all purpose flour* (subbed 1/2 cup with whole wheat)
1 tsp sugar (used pure cane sugar)
1 tsp salt (used kosher)
1 tsp active yeast
2 tbsp ghee (didn't have any, used regular butter)
5 tbsp yogurt (used plain greek yogurt)
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 tbsp or so extra virgin coconut oil plus more for greasing

Author's Note
* I use bread flour whenever I have it around because it creates much better naan but when I don't all purpose flour works just fine. Sometimes I also use 1 cup chapati flour instead of all white flour for nuttier flavor.

Mix the water, yeast and sugar and leave for 10 minutes for the yeast to come alive. It’s necessary that you don't get confused between a yeast that mixes and rises to the top and an yeast which actually proofs with bubbles of air forming.

Add salt to the flour and keep aside. Once the yeast has proofed, add it to the flour along with yogurt and ghee (also added the 3 tbsp coconut oil here). Knead the dough well for about 10 minutes. The dough may feel sticky at first, apply some ghee (used coconut oil) on your hand and keep kneading till it’s soft and supple. Keep it in a greased bowl covered with wet towel to rise (preheated oven to 200 then turned it off when it was at temp--let rise covered with loose saran wrap). It may take any where between 2-3 hours to rise (mine doubled at the hour mark).

Once it rises, knead it for another 5 minutes and divide it into equal size balls (here i let them rest for another 30 minutes in the warmed oven before going further). If you want to make garlic or cumin flavored naan, add it while kneading the dough at this point. Roll each piece into a flat ball. Dust the work surface with flour and start rolling the balls with a rolling pin. After the intial rolling it become much easier to handle it with hands. Try to give it a tear drop shape by stretching it from one end. Don't stretch too much as it may tear. (skipped the fouring part--i rolled the dough into 1/8 inch thin rough ovals between two sheets of wax paper)

Heat the pressure cooker or skillet on high heat for 3 minutes. Put this rolled naan on the skillet and cover with a lid. If using a pressure cooker, remove the whistle and tighten the lid. In less than a minute bubbles with pop up. Reduce the gas to medium high, flip the naan on the other side and cook for few seconds till the bubbles char. Alternatively, with tongs take the naan and put the other side on an open flame to cook and char the bubbles. Naan cooks very quickly at this point so don't let it be on flame for more than 30 seconds. (used the skillet method and slightly deviated--didn't cover, let cook until bubbles formed then flipped and charred the other side until i thought it was done, about two minutes or so at most? they cooked real fast!)

Brush immediately with butter and sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves. (i buttered them and sprinkled a little bit of garlic powder on them...worked just fine and they turned out perfectly awesome with just a hint of garlic. :D)

curry me home tonight.

i went to a farmer's market this weekend and got to taste some awesome local food. it's the last of the season for my favorite fruit, the fuji apples, and i was fortunate enough to get a handful of them. i'm hoping that there'll be some more next weekend as those apples were unbelievably sweet! another interesting thing i got to try was a raw kale salad from one of the organic/vegan food trucks. it was basically kale, grated raw sweet potato, flavored brown rice, and a curry dressing. i didn't really care for brown rice at the time so i basically just got a bunch of leaves, some shreds of potato, and the dressing for about six bucks. geez...talk about a rip off. :/

i can't really complain too much...i did opt out of the rice. but what made the purchase a little bit worth while was the awesome curry dressing that it had on it. i decided to try and replicate it, and snazzed up the kale to make it a little bit more interesting. i took ispiration from the raw project as a starting base. :)

 
Savory Curry Dressing
(makes approx 1 1/2 cup of dressing)

5 pieces of baby carrots
2-3 sprigs of flat leaf parsley
1-2 tsp curry powder (measure to taste)
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper (i used a three pepper medley grinder, about 5 turns)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1-2 pinches of kosher salt
1/2-1 tsp minced ginger (measure to taste)
1 tsp honey
2 tsp tahini (i used joyvu brand)
2 tbsp plus 1 tsp lime juice (i used the bottled kind)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/8 cup coconut milk (not canned)
1/4 cup olive oil

place all ingredients in a food processor/grinder and process until oils are well blended and the carrots are chopped fine. refrigerate for one hour before serving.

note: the dressing does get a bit thick in the fridge. let stand at room temperature for about thirty minutes before serving. you could probably serve this a little bit warm too! :D

and the verdict? damn good, if i say so myself. i like the curry taste a little stronger so i went with the full two teaspoons. it was exactly what i was looking for. and the kale salad mix was definitely more to my liking. it was basically just a whole single bunch of kale, chopped up. then i added an entire package of pre-made broccoli slaw and some left over romain that was getting close to the core. crunchy and lots of interesting texture. i do find, tho, that the kale has to soak the dressing first so that it'll soften it up a bit. and that a little dressing goes a long way.

oh, and that yogurt and lime DO NOT MIX. yeas, i know it would curdle, but i didn't think about it while i was in my "mad scientist" mode. although, right before it curdled, the taste of it was awesome! next time (if i wanted a yogurt based dressing) i'd take out the tahini and lime juice, sub half a cup of honey greek yogurt, and see what that tastes like. yay for healthy salads!