Greenmarket

Well after the fun I have been having, I needed to get my head thinking project-wise! With such success with the Thai curry last week, I thought I'd give it another go!

108. DIY: Make your own curry paste - *Thai*
109. Thai Vegetable Curry (summer) - *Thai*

I didn't get to make my own curry paste in Florida, so I took the opportunity to make one tonight.

I decided on 'Green' since the Red tends to be pretty spicy, and I was keen on some variation.

The following ingredients go into a food processor: green chillies, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, cumin, turmeric, coriander (the spice, not herb), garlic and soy sauce. Since I was keeping it veggie I used soy sauce instead of fish sauce or shrimp paste. I really don't like the taste of either, so the veggie version works for me!


The result, erm, was not so much green as brown with specks of green. I think that has to do with the fact that the soy sauce colored it.


This curry paste will be good for a little while, so look out for it in future curries!

With the paste done, I could now focus on the actual curry, and thus the reason for my post title. I didn't exactly go shopping at Greenmarket in the city, but my ingredients for the curry looked like all shades of green, I was quite impressed!

The hardest part of the curry was the chopping. So, I heated up some vegetable oil in a wide pan, and then I added some sliced zucchini, spring onions and mangetouts.


Oops, forgot the bean sprouts!! Oh, here they are! Sike!!!!


Then, I added the curry paste and a little bit of coconut milk to get the veggies covered. I added the rest of the coconut milk, some water, soy sauce, sugar, lime leaves and lime juice. I let the veggies simmer until tender, and added just a tad more salt to taste.

I garnished the top of the curry with parsley and served it up with some lime-infused rice.


As lovely as this was, I just wasn't hungry for some reason. I am not sure why -- but I did manage to finish my bowl. It was really delicious, and while eating it, I couldn't help being proud of myself for making a Thai curry from start to finish, down to the homemade curry paste. That was cool!

Well I have a little bit left for lunch tomorrow which goes along great with my I-refuse-to-be-poor initiative!

Oh, almost forgot, I did have a bit of room for dessert -- Rafa's cheesecake that I baked for him. Scrummy!

Feelin' hot, hot, HOT!

This is my last day here! Waaaaah!

Lucky me though got to go on an awesome kayak ride....




We got to see some flamingoes -- how cool is that?!

After some shopping, I made lunch!

104. Prawns and Red Curry - *Thai*

Our shopping expedition including getting some coconut milk and Thai red curry paste.

I started cooking by defrosting and deveining some shrimp. I also zested a lime and chopped up some parsley.

As always, I started on the rice first. I spritzed some lime into the rice water to give it a bit of a zing.

So, for the shrimp, I heated up some oil in a wide frying pan and added the shrimp. After letting them cook for a couple of minutes, I added the red curry pasre and a dash of coconut milk to make sure the shrimp was coated.


I added the coconut milk, lime juice, zest, soy sauce (we don't like fish sauce) and some sugar. I let the mixture simmer for a little bit.

Then I spooned the curry into a few bowls and garnished each with chopped up spring onions and parsley. (No go with the coriander - fine by me!)


The curry was fantastic!! I have a very sensitive palate and it was definitely on the spicy side. Troy and Lisa, huge spiceophiles, loved it, but had to add some extra chilli flakes to their bowls!! Yikes!


Well I think that just proves how insane they are, but I love 'em anyway!

Quite appropriately, Troy put on 'Hot Hot Hot' while we were eating... I'm off in a sec to the pool for my last swim to cool off!!!

See you back on the other side!

5/8 tbsp whole corriander

Thai food is interesting in that even what one perceives as being an entirely veggie meal still is not, technically, due to the appearance of flavorings such as fish sauce and shrimp paste. I remember that when I made the Thai stir-fry, I loved most of the flavors, apart from the resonance of the fish sauce. I can't abide by anything fishy; that should be evident from the lack of fish recipes I have actually attempted so far, so I was glad to see an entirely veggie Thai dish in, you guessed it, CL's Thai chapter.

65. Thai Chickpea Curry - *Thai*
66. DIY: Make your own coconut milk - *Thai*

The Thai chapter is new domain for me; it is actually a short chapter, but with lots of yummy looking dishes, so I don't know why in almost two months I'm finally getting to it now, but there you are.

This recipe, a variation of a dish in Vatcharin Bhumichitr's Thai Vegetarian Cooking, contains chickpeas and potatoes, but also a spice mix not usually associated with Thai cooking, Madras curry powder. I didn't have this curry powder; of course I have seen it countless times in Patel Brothers or Kalustyan's, but never actually purchased it. I found a couple of recipes for making the curry powder online and decided that should be sufficient.

Madras curry powder is not a spice in itself, you see, it's a mixture -- for white folk like me that need a combo of a bunch of spices most people would have in their cupboard anyway. (I read online that Indian people tend to just mix different spices together anyway.) The recipe I decided on is Helen Lawson's (no relation to the lovely NL, at least I don't think) from her book How to Make Good Curries. The anal editor inside of me is begging to correct that title; make good curries?? Well it's not Helen's fault; the book was published in 1970, so maybe grammar was not a priority then, LOL.

Check out the cover; am I the only one totally scared by that curry dish??

Here's a breakdown of the Madras curry powder recipe, written by me, and quartered - (I didn't want to end up with 3 oz. of the stuff - I just needed a tablespoon for the CL recipe!) I have also copied the entire recipe below for those interested.

Now you will see why I needed a 5/8 tbsp of whole corriander seeds. So 5/8 is close to 1/2, and a half of a tablespoon of whole corriander should be close to maybe a 1/2 teaspoon ground. Well, not the most accurate measuring, but a little more or less corriander certainly won't ruin the dish. Here's my curry powder creation:

Like most curries, this one is quite simple. First I fried some garlic, ginger and black pepper in a bit of vegetable oil. To this I added the chopped waxy potato and the curry powder.

Once the potatoes were well coated, I added coconut milk and chickpeas. (I should save you all the suspense and tell you I did not actually make the milk myself --- come on, I made mayo the other day -- who do you think I am, Martha Stewart??!!)

The curry was allowed to come to a boil and simmer until the potatoes were just tender.

When this happened, I added some soy sauce and chopped tomatoes, and then I seasoned the dish with salt and sugar. Once the dish cooked some more, I sprinkled the curry with chopped parsley, and it was ready to eat!

To go with this curry I of course needed jasmine rice - but to jazz it up a bit I boiled the rice as per usual and this time with some kaffir lime leaves to infuse the flavor of the rice. Methinks kaffir lime leaves quite apropos for a Thai meal, no?

The finished meal was delicious!!! The curry was just the perfect flavor. I was worried the soy sauce would have made it too salty, but it did its job in cutting through the richness of the coconut milk. The potatoes and chickpeas were cooked to perfection, and it didn't feel at all like I was depriving myself by not including one ounce of meat. Well done, Tom!

Apologies for the restaurant presentation of the rice. A Thai restaurant my friend, Elana, and I frequent serves its rice in a sort of pyramid shape. But, I haven't gone as far as purchasing pyramid-shaped molds for this exercise. :)


Madras Curry Powder
Recipe from How To Make Good Curries by Helen Lawson
© 1970

I N G R E D I E N T S
2 1/2 tablespoon whole corriander seeds
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried cumin, ground
2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground allspice
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black bepper
1/2 tablespoon dry mustard (such as Coleman's)
1/8 teaspoon saffron (use sparingly)

I N S T R U C T I O N S
Grind the corriander seeds, (sieve if any large husks remain). Blend all of the ingredient together and store in an airtight jar. This recipe makes 3 ounces of curry powder.