Marie has a couple of recipes from her latest creations to share. Here’s the first of them.
Regular readers may remember our fondness for Thai. Actually, it’s more my thing than his as Grant and I like Thai very well but in terms of curries Grant prefers Indian style. I wish I liked Indian more and have never really understood why Thai works for me and Indian doesn’t. Maybe it’s the curry blend; maybe it’s the coconut milk. Whatever it is, Thai makes both of us happy so I am working on exploring our options and including more in our meal rotations. Sadly, our little guy is totally unwilling to give the stuff a try. His loss.
This particular recipe was selected off the internet based primarily on the fact that it was the first on the list when I googled “Thai chicken curry,” that being what I planned to make, and I liked the picture. Usually I search a bit harder for something to use (see a non-lazy search result below the recipe), but I’ve had good experiences with Epicurious as a recipe source. And I got hungry when I saw the photo, which kind of demotivated further search! This particular recipe would be good for a weeknight meal if you have a bit of time, but in my case since it has an active time of 45 minutes I’d rather save it for a weekend.
One thing I’d like to try when I make it again is to use bone-in thighs and pull out the meat after cooking it in the sauce. Another thing I’d do next time is not freak out about how thin the sauce was, as it thickened nicely right at the end.
This is a nice workmanlike meal, relatively easy to prepare, but needs some tweaking to make it special. I’d also like to find ways to shorten to cook process as we all get more family time together when I spend less time in front of a stove.
The original recipe, from Epicurious, is here.
INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons vegetable oil (I used olive)
1 4-ounce can or jar yellow curry paste (I used red just because I happened to have some handy, and I like it just as well)
3/4 pound carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2″-thick rounds (Baby carrots happened to be cheaper…they’re also easier to cut as you only have to halve them)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1″ pieces (I used a mix of red, orange and yellow, but recommend picking one color for aesthetic reasons after seeing how mine turned out. Only the red was actually visible in the mix once cooked.)
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes (about 3), peeled, cut into 1/2″ pieces
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1″ pieces
1 13.5-ounce or 15-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
Chopped fresh basil and cilantro (I decided to use a zucchini to provide more veggie content, but did add a little basil to the mix for flavor)
Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots, onion, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.
Add potatoes, chicken, coconut milk, and 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes (if adding zucchini as I did, wait until about 6-7 minutes before serve time to add them or they will overcook) . Divide curry among bowls and top with herbs.
[For those who like the idea but want something closer to restaurant quality, or who were unimpressed by my photos which are admittedly not very good – here is a link to a much more comprehensive recipe for something really similar to what I made, and far more beautiful, but just a smidge more work because it uses fresh ginger etc.; it’s vegetarian but you can easily add meat or tofu: Cookie and Kate. ]
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Marie, Let's Eat! 