Thai Red Curry Chicken

Even in our multi-cultural society, certain ingredients that are necessary to make the foods that are indigenous to many countries are scarce.

It bugs me.

One of our favorite things to eat is Thai curry. You can put anything into your curry that you want so it’s a very versatile ingredient. Here is what I put in mine . . .

1.8 lbs of chicken breast sliced into small pieces
2 small eggplants
3 red peppers
3/4 cup Thai Red Curry Paste
1/2 cup coconut milk
water
fish sauce
vegetable oil

Neighbor Kathy gave me two eggplants.

I cut them up into bite size pieces to use.

She also gave me a bunch of jalapeno peppers. I cut those up and threw them into the mix.

I then cut up the peppers from my not-so-big garden. These aren’t spicy but they will add good flavor.

I then cut up the chicken but no pictures of that thank goodness.

I heated the oil and put the red curry paste in. Stir for about 1 minute on high heat.

Reduce the heat and put in the coconut milk.

Stir well for about 3 minutes on medium heat.

If the curry is too thick put in some water to thin it out and keep stirring.

Put the chicken in and stir occasionally until the chicken is cooked through.

After the chicken is done cooking, put in the vegetables.

Stir until the vegetables and covered and al dente, which is how I like them.

After you take the mixture off the heat, put in some fish sauce and stir.

Like I said, you can use any vegetable or meat that you want. Beef or pork is excellent with it. Just make sure the vegetable will not wilt or get too soft so no spinach or kale or anything like that.

I get my Thai ingredients at several Asian or Thai stores around the Washington DC area. However, if you do not have the luxury of a Thai market near you, you can order these ingredients online. Be aware! It’s expensive. This container of curry paste was $9.47 at Amazon, I nearly fainted.

You can try this resource, importfood.com. The prices are better but unfortunately the shipping is a bear. You can get this coconut milk at your local market though, it is in mine.

But if you want to try it every so often for a treat then I think it’s worth the price. I’m hoping most of you are close enough to a Thai place to get some of this stuff.

Bon appetite!

Pho Pho What Do You Know

It’s cold and it’s snowing and I want some warm soup to warm my chilly bones. Pho is a Vietnamese stable and it’s a favorite of mine. Actually, I’m craving some now.

I start with this…rice noodles. You can actually find rice noodles of various brands in your local market.

And I also start with this…pho broth cubes. You can’t actually find pho broth cubes in your local market. I was torn as to whether or not to post this since it’s not an ingredient that was commonly available. So I do what everyone does, I go to Amazon.com. They have it! I can’t believe the stuff you can get there.

It’s not this kind, but it’s close enough.

I watched the cubes dissolve and I stand over the stove because I’m chilly…and I’m hungry.

I slice some mushrooms and throw them in the bowling pot. It’s the only thing I had in the refridgerator. Some other veggies that will work are – mushrooms. I normally don’t cook the veggies in the broth, but rather, I put them in after the soup is ready. That way they won’t get soggy. Some good veggies to throw in after are sliced cabbage, Thai basil,  and bean sprouts.

Now I put in my noodles. Notice I didn’t soak this particular kind. Or maybe you didn’t. Anyway, follow the directions on the package.

Hmmm…it’s a little plain.

Throw in some green onions.

Now that’s more like it…spicy, spicy, spicy. This is srachi sauce. We have a gallon of it. I also put in fish sauce, limes and a little bit of sugar.

It warms my stomach on this cold winter day.

I’m playing on Foodie Friday…

And Here’s The Ponzu Sauce…

Update: This is one of my favorite sauces and it’s so easy that I had to post it again. I am making some tomorrow as a matter of fact…with some gyoza. Enjoy.

This is just one of the sauces that I use for the eggrolls and for so much more. I watched my mother make this sauce before I knew what ponzu sauce was. Now I make it all the time.

That’s what I get for living in Japan.

When you google ponzu sauce you see that you’ll need, mirin, sake, dashi, bonito, lemon juice, etc, etc, etc. I like to drink sake (and some of you can attest to how much I like to drink it) but I don’t like the taste in food. Mirin is hard to find, and dashi broth takes too much time to make.

Take it from me, you don’t need all that. You need just three things (can’t deviate from these three) and you will need a spice option, like peppers. And you need pretty bowls. You can’t make ponzu sauce unless you have pretty bowls.

Ok, ok, here’s the ponzu recipe…

You will need:

Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sugar
Hot Peppers (optional)

I use reduced sodium soy sauce and now can really tell the difference between that and the full strength. The full strength soy sauce is not a bad thing. It’s just better for your blood pressure to use the reduce sodium. But I don’t want to preach. It’s up to you and up to your circulatory system.

I don’t have quantities, it depends on how much you want to make. I do two part soy sauce to one part rice vinegar. I like a lot of sauce, so I make a lot. Most of the time, we tend to run out.

Put in about 1 teaspoon to sugar to about one quarter cup of soy sauce. Those of you who are persnickity about details like measurement will find this a little frustrating. I’m sorry. Just keep tasting it. If it tastes good to you, stop putting in sugar.

That’s it…except.

There’s this. Hot peppers. I normally use dry peppers to put in sauce. We’ll talk about different kinds of peppers another time…if you can’t take the heat, don’t put it in.

Now that’s really it. You’re done.

Tonight we are putting the ponzu sauce onto pan fried gyoza since the husband and I had a huge – I mean huge – hamburger with Roquefort and bacon for lunch. We shouldn’t even be eating dinner. I’ll show to I make gyoza another time. You won’t believe how easy it is…really you won’t believe it.

I have two other sauces to show you…but I won’t be able to until next week. I have a horsey project for the girl I have to finish by this weekend. And I may actually have to go into work…

Bon appetite.

How I Make Eggrolls 1

I received some sage advice from someone I respected deeply last week. I was bemoaning the fact that haven’t been cooking a lot lately and I love to cook. He said, “Well, then cook. If no one is home, cook anyway. Someone else could always use a good meal.” He was nice enough not to have added, “Duh” at the end of that statement.

So this is food week! I have been cooking, but not taking pictures. It’s hard to cook and photograph at the same time. I’m not much one for staging.

So here’s the first of two post on making eggrolls. Or rather, how I make eggrolls. How my mother taught me how. These are really simple, the wrapping can be somewhat time consuming but it’s fun. If you can wrap a present, you can make eggrolls. I may have left out half the population with that stipulation…anyway, here goes.

You will need:

1lb ground beef
1lb ground pork
1 yellow onion
1 package of carrots (about 6 or 7 individual carrots)
1-2 eggs (it depends)
salt
pepper
eggroll skins

Here’s the eggroll skins. Giant may have them. I found these in the commisary at Andrews AFB. I know not everyone can get there, I’m sorry. If you can’t find something similar at Giant, try Whole Foods.

Put the pork and beef together in a big mixing bowl.

Season it with salt and pepper and stick your hand in there and mix it up. Then put an egg in and mix up the goo some more.

Chop up the onion into small diced pieces. (I cry every time.)

Wash and peel the carrots. Cut off the top and bottom and grate it. This takes muscle…

Put the veggies in a bowl and set aside for a moment.

Throw the veggies into the bowl of meat…

and mix together with your hand. It’s the best way. Just mix it all together. Don’t be afraid to get a little dirty. It’s all love I tell you.

How easy was that?

Tomorrow, we’ll wrap the egg rolls. See you then!