Green Curry with Pork
Green Curry with Pork is a staple Thai dish. This is the second green curry recipe on the website, this one was taught to me by P-Mala, a cook for over 20 years. Her green curry was raved about, and she invited me over yesterday to learn from her how she makes it.
You'll Need
* 1 cup pork, shoulder cut or similar, sliced thin
* 3/4 teaspoon palm sugar
* 4 green Thai eggplants
* 1/4 cup pea eggplants
* 1 red & 1 green long Thai chili
* 1 teaspoon lime leaves (3-8 leaves)
* 2 tablespoons packed Thai basil leaves (8-10 leaves)
* 3 cups coconut milk
The curry paste
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
* 1 teaspoon galangal, sliced into slivers
* 2 teaspoons magroot skin, sliced into slivers
* 1 1/2 tablespoons lemongrass, bottom of the stalk, sliced into rounds
* 1 1/2 tablespoons shallots, skin removed
* 2 1/2 tablespoons garlic, skin removed
* 2 1/2 tablespoons green small thai chilies, whole
* 3/4 teaspoon shrimp paste
Directions
1. Prepare the ingredients for the curry paste. Slice the lemongrass into thin rounds, peel the skin off the garlic & shallots, slice the galangal and the magroot skin into thin slivers, and remove the stems from the chilies.
2. In a stone mortar & pestle, start with the drier and harder ingredients first: add the galangal, magroot skin, lemongrass, peppercorns and salt. Smash together until a fairly uniform paste. This may take a few minutes.
3. Add the wet ingredients: the garlic, shallots and chilies. Do not add the shrimp paste yet. Smash until fairly uniform. This is homestyle curry, so the curry paste isn’t meant to look perfect like at the market. It’s ok (and even preferred) to have it a bit ‘chunky’, but it shouldn’t be not mixed. See picture for finished product.
4. When finished, add the shrimp paste and pound until mixed well.
5. Slice the meat into thin slices (as shown in the picture) and set aside. If using fresh coconut milk, separate the head from the tail (milk from cream) and place in two different bowls. If using canned coconut milk, don’t shake the can. Skim the top cream off and place it in a bowl, and place the rest in another. You’ll probably need to thin out the rest with another can’s worth of water, since canned coconut milk is much thicker than fresh.
6. Heat a wok over medium-high heat and add 1/2 cup of the coconut cream. It should be the same consistency of cow’s milk. If it’s a lot thicker, thin it down with water. Wait until it boils and the oil separates, this should take about 2 minutes.
7. Add all the curry paste, and mix well. Keep stirring and flipping the paste so it doesn’t burn. You’ll need to cook the paste for about 3 minutes until it becomes quite fragrant and you begin to sneeze. As the paste dries out, and starts to stick to the pan, keep adding more coconut cream a few tablespoons at a time. Don’t let the paste burn.
8. When the paste is finished cooking, add the meat and 1/2 cup of coconut cream. Cook the meat on medium heat for 15 minutes. Flip and stir every minute or two to prevent burning. If it’s too dry, keep adding coconut cream or milk. It should be a wet fry, almost a simmer. P-Mala said you’ll start to see a light green film, or oil rise to the top towards the end of the cooking time.
9. Add the palm sugar, and mix well.
10. Add the rest of the coconut milk (and water if using canned) and bring to a rapid boil. Then add the eggplants and long chilies, and boil for 2 minutes.
11. Add the lime leaves and basil, remove from heat and serve.
Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)
You'll Need
* 1 cup pork, shoulder cut or similar, sliced thin
* 3/4 teaspoon palm sugar
* 4 green Thai eggplants
* 1/4 cup pea eggplants
* 1 red & 1 green long Thai chili
* 1 teaspoon lime leaves (3-8 leaves)
* 2 tablespoons packed Thai basil leaves (8-10 leaves)
* 3 cups coconut milk
The curry paste
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
* 1 teaspoon galangal, sliced into slivers
* 2 teaspoons magroot skin, sliced into slivers
* 1 1/2 tablespoons lemongrass, bottom of the stalk, sliced into rounds
* 1 1/2 tablespoons shallots, skin removed
* 2 1/2 tablespoons garlic, skin removed
* 2 1/2 tablespoons green small thai chilies, whole
* 3/4 teaspoon shrimp paste
Directions
1. Prepare the ingredients for the curry paste. Slice the lemongrass into thin rounds, peel the skin off the garlic & shallots, slice the galangal and the magroot skin into thin slivers, and remove the stems from the chilies.
2. In a stone mortar & pestle, start with the drier and harder ingredients first: add the galangal, magroot skin, lemongrass, peppercorns and salt. Smash together until a fairly uniform paste. This may take a few minutes.
3. Add the wet ingredients: the garlic, shallots and chilies. Do not add the shrimp paste yet. Smash until fairly uniform. This is homestyle curry, so the curry paste isn’t meant to look perfect like at the market. It’s ok (and even preferred) to have it a bit ‘chunky’, but it shouldn’t be not mixed. See picture for finished product.
4. When finished, add the shrimp paste and pound until mixed well.
5. Slice the meat into thin slices (as shown in the picture) and set aside. If using fresh coconut milk, separate the head from the tail (milk from cream) and place in two different bowls. If using canned coconut milk, don’t shake the can. Skim the top cream off and place it in a bowl, and place the rest in another. You’ll probably need to thin out the rest with another can’s worth of water, since canned coconut milk is much thicker than fresh.
6. Heat a wok over medium-high heat and add 1/2 cup of the coconut cream. It should be the same consistency of cow’s milk. If it’s a lot thicker, thin it down with water. Wait until it boils and the oil separates, this should take about 2 minutes.
7. Add all the curry paste, and mix well. Keep stirring and flipping the paste so it doesn’t burn. You’ll need to cook the paste for about 3 minutes until it becomes quite fragrant and you begin to sneeze. As the paste dries out, and starts to stick to the pan, keep adding more coconut cream a few tablespoons at a time. Don’t let the paste burn.
8. When the paste is finished cooking, add the meat and 1/2 cup of coconut cream. Cook the meat on medium heat for 15 minutes. Flip and stir every minute or two to prevent burning. If it’s too dry, keep adding coconut cream or milk. It should be a wet fry, almost a simmer. P-Mala said you’ll start to see a light green film, or oil rise to the top towards the end of the cooking time.
9. Add the palm sugar, and mix well.
10. Add the rest of the coconut milk (and water if using canned) and bring to a rapid boil. Then add the eggplants and long chilies, and boil for 2 minutes.
11. Add the lime leaves and basil, remove from heat and serve.
Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)
Massaman Curry
- If making your own paste, dry roast the dry spices in a pan on medium heat until fragrant, about 2-4 minutes. It’s best to roast each thing one at a time until fragrant. The chilies should be browned. Roast the shrimp paste wrapped in tin foil for a few minutes too.
- Soak the dried chilies until soft, then take out the seeds and inner bits and chop fine.
- Pound the paste in a stone mortar & pestle. Start by grinding up the dried spices until powdered, then set aside. Put the chilies in the mortar and pound until uniformly smashed, then add the rest of the ingredients, starting from hardest and driest and working up to softest at the end. Then add the dried spice powder back in and the shrimp paste. Mix well. If using a food processor, just mix it all in together. If using canned paste, skip these three steps.
- Cut the potatoes and onions into bite-sized pieces and wash the chicken.
- Add the oil to the pan and turn on to medium high. Fry 4 tablespoons of the paste until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
- Add the whole chicken pieces. Fry until the chicken is sealed on the outside, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of the coconut cream (top part of the can if using canned - don’t shake the can). Simmer until the oil separates, about 2-3 minutes. You’ll see reddish oil starting to float to the top.
- Add the potatoes, peanuts and onions and the 1 cup of coconut milk. Simmer for a few minutes.
- Add the cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cassia leaves. Mix well.
- Simmer (and stir well) until the mixture browns and a good deal of oil comes to the top. About 15-20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add some water. Add the fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind juice at the end. Taste - you may need to adjust the flavor if it’s not salty or sour enough.
- Serve with rice or roti. Also is great with ajaat (slightly pickled cucumber salad) on the side.
Chicken Yellow Curry
1 Lb chicken, cut into chunks
2 potatoes, peel and cut into chunks
1 onion
1 yellow curry paste
1 can coconut milk
4 Tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1 In a big pan, put in curry paste and 1/2 can coconut milk. Stir for 5 minutes.
2 Add potatoes and onions. Stir tir until almost cooked.
3 Add chicken, the rest of coconut milk, sugar and water. Stir until chicken is cooked.
4 Add salt and sugar to test.
Serve with white or brown rice.
Yellow Curry Paste
1 Tbsp lemongrass, chopped
3-7 pieces Dry chili
7 buds grilled shallot
20 cloves garlic, grilled
1 Tsp ginger, grilled
1 Tsp galanga, finely chop
1 Tsp cilantro root, finely chop
1 Tbsp cilantro seeds, toasted
1 Tsp cumin, roasted
5 pepper seeds
2 Tsp yellow curry powder
1 Tsp shrimp paste
1 Tsp salt
Put everything in the blender. Blend until mixture mix well. Add some water if needed.
Keep curry paste refrigerated until use.
3-7 pieces Dry chili
7 buds grilled shallot
20 cloves garlic, grilled
1 Tsp ginger, grilled
1 Tsp galanga, finely chop
1 Tsp cilantro root, finely chop
1 Tbsp cilantro seeds, toasted
1 Tsp cumin, roasted
5 pepper seeds
2 Tsp yellow curry powder
1 Tsp shrimp paste
1 Tsp salt
Put everything in the blender. Blend until mixture mix well. Add some water if needed.
Keep curry paste refrigerated until use.