Thai red prawn curry with sticky coconut rice

I have been busy with my freelance work for the past few days which involves a lot of research and writing and I'm exhausted. So I am not going to rant on the blog because of all the typing I've been doing, and here I am going straight to the recipe.

This was an easy peacy friday night dinner for two. It works out best if you have ready made red curry paste. Even the pics don't look nice, but the recipe was really easy and good and I'd also promised my mom I'd post the recipe since Id sent her a box of red curry paste.

Thai red prawn curry

Prawns: 250 gms, cleaned and deveined

Shallot- 1 small (optional)

Ginger- 1 inch piece, julienned

Garlic- 4 pods, chopped up fine

Thai red curry paste- 1 tsp (store bought..mine was really spice so i used onlt a tsp)

Thin coconut milk- 1 cup

Oil- 1/2 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Thai basil/ coriander leaves- to garnish

Heat a non stick pan and add the oil.

Once hot, sauté the shallot (if using), ginger and garlic till nice and fragrant. You don't want to over cook.

Add the red curry paste and on medium-low heat sauté it till you see oil appearing. This is important.

Add coconut milk with the heat on low and mix well. Bring to a gentle boil. Season with salt.

Once the coconut milk has slightly thickened (if its too thick, thin it out with some water), add the prawns and cook till done...max. 6 to 7 minutes on medium high heat.

Chop the basil/ coriander leaves and garnish just before serving.

Notes: If you want to make your own curry paste, here's the link 

Sticky coconut rice

Basmati rice/ sticky rice- 1 cup (cleaned and drained)

Coconut milk- 1 cup

Water- 1 cup

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tsp

Coriander leaves- to garnish (optional)

In a chefs pan, large enough to handle 1 cup rice, heat the oil.

Add the rice and sauté gently for a few minutes, till the rice becomes slightly transparent.

Reduce the heat to low and add the coconut milk, followed by water.

Season with salt, stir well and close with a tight fitting lid and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or till all the water has been absorbed.

Fluff the rice with a fork, sprinkle some coriander leaves and serve hot.

Notes: You can use 2 cups of coconut milk for a stronger taste. I wasn't too sure if id like the strong taste that much so i diluted it.

The rice will be slightly sticky, but that's the whole point really. 

I would also like to announce the winner of the giveaway- Ananda Rajashekar. Ananda, do pass on your address so I can send the books across :)
Thanks to all the others who participated. Stay tuned for more giveaways :)

Thai-inspired butternut squash soup

Made the first soup of the season and it wasn't a favourite. Its the first time I've cooked with butternut squash and to be honest I wasn't too fond of the obvious sweetness...at least not in a soup for sure. I spiced it up quite a bit, in spite of that it was still sweet and not my kinda soup flavour. 

I adapted the Thai-spiced roast pumpkin soup recipe by Cooksister for this soup. The changes I made were:

I replaced the Pumpkin with 500 gms of butternut squash

Used a medium size leek stalk instead of the onion

Chopped up two pods of garlic and added to the leek while frying

Used red curry paste instead of the green curry paste

Just before I pureed the soup, I added a slit chilli as well to the mix since it was too sweet for my liking

Added a dash of Maggi seasoning towards the end

Drizzled some coconut milk on top and served it hot with some garlic and herb bread.

Thai stir fried chicken with peanuts

The other day i was so jobless and going through my blog posts to realize that I completed one year of blogging this month..well 29th to be precise.  I mean I honestly didn't think id make it into a year. I thought, like everything else, I would lose interest within a couple of months..well good for me, and lucky for you... i didn't and here I am completing one year of food blogging...yaaaaay!

Took this as a good enough reason for me to start cleaning up the mess...tags, pictures etc etc. and boy was it a task. A few friends did mention about the labels, which I realized was pretty tedious since i had been very careless in tagging my posts from the beginning. I have now somehow managed to sort it out and have put it up on the side bar under 'select a recipe,' so navigation is easier. I do want to create a separate page for the recipe index (which will do me good, more than anything else) but its not priority at the moment. I have also de-cluttered my home page and have added a separate 'about me' section where I have rambled on and on. So its not in your face and you are not obliged to read. Have taken off Food Buzz and the weird Petit Chef cos they weren't really doing me any good.  I am working on my header and have changed my font colours, yet again. I think variety is the spice of life and get easily bored with repetition. The other day I even told Ro I was getting bored of how predictable he has become...to which he replied, ' I'm getting a bit worried about how fat you've become.' That was totally unnecessary right? 

Now coming to the recipe. I finally managed to get to the Thai store over the long weekend and it was a treasure trove..two levels of Asian food, live sea food and a plethora of options. Picked up quite a bit of junk and was full enthu to finally make some food at home on Monday night after the entire weekend was spent eating out, binge drinking and ordering junk food, most of it to do with the Hampton Court Foodies Festival in Surrey (update coming soon). 

This is a very authentic Thai dish I must say, and we loved it to the last bit. 

Boneless, skinless chicken thigh fillets- 450 gms, cleaned and cut into bite size pieces

To marinate:

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Garlic paste- 1 tbsp (fresh would be ideal)

Green chillies- 3 to 4 depending on your taste, crushed

Lime juice- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

For the sauce:

Fish sauce- 1 tbsp

Dark soy sauce- 1 tbsp

Oyster sauce- 1 tbsp

Sugar- 1/2 tsp

Chicken stock- 1/2 cup

Salt- only add if necessary

Dry red chillies- 3, de-seeded

Unsalted peanuts- 1/2 cup

Red pepper- 1, roughly chopped

Onion- 1 sliced lengthwise

Garlic- 4 cloves, crushed and roughly chopped

Spring onions- 4 to 5 stalks, green and white part chopped into long strips + some for garnishing 

Oil- 1 tbsp

Mix the chicken with all the ingredients in the 'to marinate' section and keep aside for a minimum of 1 hr.

Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients listed.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the peanuts till light brown in colour. Make sure you don't burn it. Keep stirring continuously. Remove and drain on kitchen towels.

In the same oil fry the dry red chillies till they slightly change colour. Drain and keep aside.

Cover and cook the marinated chicken pieces in oil till they turn a light golden colour and all the water has drained off. Add more oil if there isn't enough. Remove from pan and keep aside

In the left over gravy and oil, sauté the garlic till fragrant.

Add the onions and red pepper and sauté till the onions become transparent and the red pepper begins to loose its crunchiness...say about 6 to 8 minutes on medium heat.

Add the fried peanuts, dry red chillies and chicken and toss everything together for about a minute or so. 

Increase the heat and add the sauce. Stir fry for a few minutes, making sure the ingredients are all coated evenly.

Add the spring onions and give a final toss..stir fry for one more minute

Take it off the fire, garnish with spring onions (if any) and serve hot with rice or noodles or anything you please.

We had it with some instant noodles...and it was heavenly.

Notes: I picked up a sachet of the garlic and chilli sauce for meat and poultry at the Thai store and used that as the marinade along with pepper and lime juice. I have given you the ingredients mentioned on the cover, with approximate measurements. Do adjust according to your taste.

Please be careful while adding salt since the sauces and stock will have enough and sometimes more. If it happens, you can mellow it down with corn flour...i guess.

The chicken thigh fillets can be replaced with chicken breasts and the peanuts with cashew nuts if you please.
You can easily do a veggie prep using potatoes, egg plant, beans etc. A seafood version might also be interesting.

Thai Green Curry (Chicken) and memoirs from our Thailand trip

For our 1st wedding anniversary we took off to Thailand and had an amazing week in bothPattaya and Bangkok. A few kms off the coast of Pattaya is this brilliant Island called Koh Larnwith its pristine beaches and crystal clear water. After an adventurous deep sea diving expedition, we got to this Island and lounged around, sipping on Singha Beer and munching on all sorts of exotic sea food. In between a few dips in the water and sun bathing, we managed to try some exotic Thai food which I must say was bloody cheap and tasted out of this world. Since I wasn't too much of a seafood fan, I opted for chicken and other meat varieties which was not bad at all. Ro went berserk trying lobster and crab and everything fishy and wouldn't stop talking about it. Even now he brings up his savoured sea food expedition in Thailand. We also went with full enthusiasm about trying street food in BKK, but chickened out seeing all that was on display. I shall not say 'what' and gross you all out.

The Thai green curry and red curry in particular caught my fancy and I tried it at home quite a while back. It tasted just as how I remembered it to be and is one of the easiest curries i have ever made. Considering it was my first time with a Thai dish, it turned out pretty awesome. It was served with white jasmine flavoured rice, but we had it with just plain rice and it sure was good enough. You can make this with any meat, sea food, meat and seafood and as a vegetarian dish.. You more or less can decide what goes into it.

Chicken Breasts- 500 gms cut into bite cubes

Bell Pepper- 1 medium size chopped lengthwise(any colour)

Onion/ Shallots- 1/4 cup

Spring onions- 1/4 cup (optional)

Green chillies- 2 slit lengthwise

Thai green curry paste (any brand, store-bought)- 3 tsp (heaps)

Ginger paste- 1 tsp

Garlic paste- 2 tsp

Coriander pwd- 1 tbs

Chilli pwd- 1 tsp (can substitute with Chilli sauce as well)

Fish sauce- 2 tbs

Dark Soy sauce- 1 tsp (or 1 tbs of the regular soy sauce)

Coconut milk- 1 can

Coriander leaves- chopped fine, to garnish

Oil- 2 tbs

Salt- to taste

In a large wok, heat the oil and sauté onions and peppers till soft. Add the ginger and garlic paste, coriander pwd and chilli pwd to this and mix well. In goes the cleaned chicken pieces and once they become light brown, add the Thai green curry paste. Sauté for a few minutes and then add the sauces (fish and soy sauce and if using chilli sauce, that too at this stage) and salt and make sure the entire chicken is covered in this mix. In goes the coconut milk, simmer till the meat is cooked through. I left it on low heat for quite sometime so that the gravy and coconut milk flavour will nicely be infused into the chicken pieces. Add the green chillies and keep stirring once in a while. Just before you take the curry off the flame, sprinkle the spring onions and give one final stir and when you serve it, garnish with coriander leaves. I think the coriander leaves add that extra taste and flavour to the whole meal, try not to avoid that. Ro however got mad seeing the 'leaves' and managed to remove quite a bit of it.

If you do not have the store bought Thai Green Curry Paste, here is a recipe i found online.

Green chillies- 3 chopped

Garlic cloves- 2 minced or approx tsp of paste

Lemon grass stalks- 1, sliced

Kaffir lime leaves- 6

Shallots- 3 finely chopped

Coriander leaves- a handful

Ginger- 1 inch piece finely grated

Peeled rind of half a lime

Coriander pwd- 2 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Shrimp paste- 1 tsp (optional)

Pepper- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1/2 tsp or more if desired

Blend all the ingredients together till it forms a thick paste and voila you have your Thai green curry paste. If you have leftover, after using the desired amount in your curry, you can transfer it into a jar and store in the refrigerator for future use. It is an added task to make the paste, but an easy one if you can find all the ingredients.

Notes: You can throw in beans, corn, carrots, peas, potatoes, broccoli, egg plant or any other green vegetable you fancy. Paneer is also a good substitute for meat i guess

The entire dish is made uncovered.

If you have the Thai green curry paste and coconut milk, the desired taste will be achieved no matter what.

Leaving you with a few pics from the trip

Pattaya Bay as seen from the boat that took us to Koh Larn.

Told ya it was blue blue blue:)

Dry fish sold at Koh Larn Island

All sorts of exotic fruits being sold at the Floating Market

That's us at the Floating market...super tanned from our Pattaya expedition :)

This is a reposted entry, and I'd like to send it to Jagruti of Joy of Cooking for her event Joyful Eating Whilst Travelling

Pan seared Scallops with a Thai Sauce

This is our first time with scallops and i must say i wasn't too disappointed. Ro got all excited at the prospect of making a scallop dish and he completely took over. We paired it with noodles stir fried in a spicy Thai sauce and a Chardonnay to accompany the spicy, tangy food.

Scallops- 8 to 10 meduim ones

Olive oil- 2 tbs

Salt and pepper- for seasoning

Sauce:

Olive oil- 2 tbs

Fish sauce- 1 tbs

Lemon juice- of half a lime

Dry red chillies- 2 crushed (we used 1/2 a tsp of Thai massaman paste)

Garlic- 2 cloves, thinly sliced

Butter- 1 tsp

Coriander- 2 tsp,finely chopped. We used the dried ones..fresh would be apt

Wash the scallops and pat dry

Warm a wok (or large frying pan) over medium-high heat (allow pan to warm up at least 1 minute). While the pan is warming up, use a paper towel or clean tea towel to gently dab any remaining moisture from the scallops.

Add 2 Tbs oil to the frying pan and swirl around. Gently place the scallops in the pan, leaving enough space between so you'll have room to turn them. Cook the scallops for at least 2 minutes (or skin will tear) and while doing so, season with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Turn the scallops and season the other side with salt and pepper. Scallops are done when both sides have a nice crispy-looking crust and are firm to the touch. Remove cooked scallops from the wok/pan and drain on a kitchen towel.

For the sauce, place all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat-high. Stirring occasionally, warm the sauce for 1-2 minutes only, without actually cooking it. Add the seared scallops to the sauce or palce the scallops on a serving plate and pour the sauce over it.

Notes: The scallops must be very dry before frying them in order to achieve a good sear on both sides.

We made the sauce a bit runny so it teamed up as a nice side to the noodle dish.

Recipe has been adapted from about.com

Beef Stir Fry with Thai Noodles

This is my own version of a beef stir fry as the umpteen sites i browsed for a recipe had major complicated stuff and ingredients i didn't have, so here's my version. Since its my version, its obviously an easy lazy one:)

Lean beef- 400 gms, cleaned and diced lengthwise

Shallots- 4, sliced lengthwise

Green chillies- 2, slit lengthwise

Red/green/yellow/orange pepper (Capsicum)- 1, cut lengthwise

Spring onion- 1 big, cut in circles

Cornflour- 2 tbs

Soy sauce- 5 tsp

Fish sauce- 1/2 tsp

Ginger paste- 1 tsp heaped

Garlic paste- 1 tsp heaped

Chilli pwd- 1/2 tsp

Maggi seasoning sauce- 1 tsp

Oil- enough to deep fry the beef slices

Salt- to taste

Coriander leaves- 1 tbs, finely chopped (optional)

Marinate the beef slices with 3 tsp soy sauce, chilli pwd, ginger and garlic paste and refrigerate for half an hour. Meanwhile have all your veggies cut and ready.

Take some water in a bowl and mix the 2 tbs of cornflour to form a thick gravy. Pour this into the beef marinade and mix well. The cornflour should coat the beef. In a deep bottomed pan, heat the oil and when its boiling hot, put in the beef slices and deep fry in batches. Once crisp and brown, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a kitchen towel.

In a frying pan, heat about 2 tbs of oil (leftover from frying) and sautee the onions and peppers. Once it becomes soft, add the green chillies, fish sauce, the remaining 1 tsp of soy sauce and the Maggi seasoning sauce. Mix well. At this stage you check the salt and spiciness and add more if required. Next, add the fried beef slices and mix well. On low fire, sautee the beef till they become a darker brown, mixed with all the masala. Just before you take it off the fire, throw in the spring onions and garnish with some coriander leaves if you fancy it.

Serve with noodles or fried rice. I made noodles with the Thai green curry paste. Stir fry mix is available with an assortment of veggies like bok choy, bamboo shoots, bell peppers etc. In a steaming hot wok, sautee the veggies with green curry paste and a generous dash of soy sauce. We get ready-made noodles which just needs to be put in at the last minute (yes, when i meant lazy i really meant LAZY). So add the noodles to the veggies, give it a final stir and you have steaming hot Thai Noodles.

Notes: The oil for frying needs to be really hot and so does the wok for the noodles.

Don't over fry the beef slices, because they can then become chewy. Trust me, i have been there, done that.

Thai Massaman Beef Curry

There was a book sale by the Readers Digest group at Ro's office and he picked up a '30 Minute Curries' book with loads of fancy recipes which they claimed would take only 30 minutes but obviously more than that for people like me who would take that long to just get the vegetables ready. Ro on the other hand has become an expert at some of the recipes in the book, the favourite of ours being the Massaman Beef Curry, a classic Thai curry popular in the Muslim areas of Thailand.. While i watched the Michael Jackson Memorial Service with the 'please don't disturb me sign' plastered on my face, Ro prepared dinner. He doesn't follow the recipe to the dot, which kinda bugs the crap outta me, but the curry turns out beautiful. I am however posting the original recipe for your perusal:

Stewing beef- 750 gms cubed (We used meat balls instead...about 12 of those)

Tamarind paste/ pulp- 1 tbs

Coconut milk- 500 ml or 2 cups

Cardamom pods- 4 bruised

Coconut cream- 500 ml (without shaking the tin, remove the top creamy layer)

Massaman curry paste- 3 tbs

Shallots/ baby onions- 4 cut into cubes

Baby potatoes- 8 (Cut in half if too big. You can also use normal potatoes)

Jaggery- 2 tbs

Fish sauce- 2 tbs

Unsalted Roasted Ground peanuts- 70 gms (optional)

Coriander leaves- to garnish

Oil- 2 tbs

Salt- to taste

Dissolve the tamarind paste in half a cup of boiling water. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok and cook the beef in batches over high heat for 5 minutes or until browned. Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk and cardamom and simmer till the beef is tender. Add the potatoes towards the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Simultaneously, while the beef is cooking, in a sauce pan, put the cream of the coconut milk and bring to a rapid simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the oil separates and forms a layer on top. Add the Massaman curry paste and onion and cook till the paste becomes aromatic and the onions soften. Pour this mixture into the beef mixture, add the fish sauce, jaggery, peanuts and tamarind liquid and mix well. Simmer for 10 minutes. garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

OK, so this is the actual cooking version which we did try a couple of times and when we kinda got the hang of it, made a few changes here and there and came up with this easy lazy procedure. It tastes just as good.

Since we used meatballs, it just required shallow frying in oil just to brown them. If you are using beef cubes, instead of simmering it till it cooks, you can cook the beef and the potatoes in the pressure cooker for a whistle and it would be perfect. This will save time and gas.

To the cooked beef, add the coconut milk, cardamom, curry paste, fish sauce, jaggery, onions and potatoes and mix well. Simmer on low heat till you get a nice thick gravy and by which time the potatoes would have cooked. Towards the end, add the tamarind mix and give a final stir...bring to a boil, remove and garnish with coriander leaves (which Ro obviously avoided).

Notes: We omitted the coconut cream since it was too rich.

If you are cooking the potatoes and beef in the pressure cooker, then add the potatoes to the coconut milk only at the last stage, otherwise they over cook and lose its shape and consistency.

The whole point is to get a nice thick gravy and so you will have to simmer it on low heat for quite some time.

I didn't think the peanuts added any sort of extra flavour. So its optional. Also, the coconut cream is very rich and 500 ml of it is quite a bit and so we just used the cream in the one can of coconut milk we had, which didn't make much of a difference, but doing the separate procedure in the saucepan adds to the grandness.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

This is one of the easiest curries i have ever made. Considering that it was my first time with a Thai dish, this one turned out pretty awesome. It goes well with Jasmine flavoured rice, but we had it with just plain rice and it sure was good enough. You can make this with any meat, sea food, meat and seafood and as a vegetarian dish.. You more or less can decide what goes into it.

Chicken Breasts- 500 gms cut into bite cubes

Bell Pepper- 1 medium size chopped lengthwise(any colour)

Onion/ Shallots- 1/4 cup

Spring onions- 1/4 cup (optional)

Green chillies- 2 slit lengthwise

Thai green curry paste (any brand, store-bought)- 3 tsp (heaps)

Ginger paste- 1 tsp

Garlic paste- 2 tsp

Coriander pwd- 1 tbs

Chilli pwd- 1 tsp (can substitute with Chilli sauce as well)

Fish sauce- 2 tbs

Dark Soy sauce- 1 tsp (or 1 tbs of the regular soy sauce)

Coconut milk- 1 can

Coriander leaves- chopped fine, to garnish

Oil- 2 tbs

Salt- to taste

In a large wok, heat the oil and sautee onions and peppers till soft. Add the ginger and garlic paste, coriander pwd and chilli pwd to this and mix well. In goes the cleaned chicken pieces and once they become light brown, add the Thai green curry paste. Sautee for a few minutes and then add the sauces (fish and soy sauce and if using chilli sauce, that too at this stage) and salt and make sure the entire chicken is covered in this mix. In goes the coconut milk, simmer till the meat is cooked through. I left it on low heat for quite sometime so that the gravy and coconut milk flavour will nicely be infused into the chicken pieces. Add the green chillies and keep stirring once in a while. Just before you take the curry off the flame, sprinkle the spring onions and give one final stir and when you serve it, garnish with coriander leaves. I think the coriander leaves add that extra taste and flavour to the whole meal, try not to avoid that. Ro however got mad seeing the 'leaves' and managed to remove quite a bit of it.

If you do not have the store bought Thai Green Curry Paste, here is a recipe i found online.

Green chillies- 3 chopped

Garlic cloves- 2 minced or approx tsp of paste

Lemon grass stalks- 1, sliced

Kaffir lime leaves- 6

Shallots- 3 finely chopped

Coriander leaves- a handful

Ginger- 1 inch piece finely grated

Peeled rind of half a lime

Coriander pwd- 2 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Shrimp paste- 1 tsp (optional)

Pepper- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1/2 tsp or more if desired

Blend all the ingredients together till it forms a thick paste and voila you have your Thai green curry paste. If you have leftover, after using the desired amount in your curry, you can transfer it into a jar and store in the refrigerator for future use. It is an added task to make the paste, but an easy one if you can find all the ingredients.

Notes: You can throw in beans, corn, carrots, peas, potatoes, broccoli, egg plant or any othergreen vegetable you fancy. Paneer is also a good substitute for meat i guess

The entire dish is made uncovered.

If you have the Thai green curry paste and coconut milk, the desired taste will be achieved no matter what.

Sausage Fried Rice

It was one of our really lazy days at home and was surfing the various blogs for something easy to make. Stumbled upon this recipe from sig's blog and decided to give it a shot. This is an easy recipe if you have left over rice. Sausages and peas are almost always available at our place and although its not come out as fancy as Sig's it sure tasted fine to us. I have altered the recipe a bit so the lazy me didn't have to spend more time in the kitchen :)

Cooked and cooled rice- 2 cups

Sausages- 2 diced

Carrots- 1/2 cup diced

Green peas- 1/2 cup

Shallots- 1/4 cups thinly sliced

Light or dark soy sauce- 2 tbs

Fish sauce- 2 tsp

Pepper- 2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Spice paste: 1 large shallot, 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste and 1 tbs of Thai Masaman paste

Egg -1 per person

Grind or mix the spice paste ingredients together and keep aside.

In a large wok, sautee the shallots till golden brown. To this, add the sausages and fry till brown. Now, add the carrots and while it cooks, about half way through add the green peas (frozen ones cook really fast). Mix well and now add the spice mix. Sautee well, till the raw smell dies. Add salt at this stage and then put in the rice. Make sure it is well coated with the masala/spice mix. On full heat, add the soy sauce, fish sauce and the pepper pwd and mix well till the rice is well coated.

I don't like a runny egg, so i broke the yolk and seasoned it with some salt and pepper.