2013 Cooking Club Week 4: Thai Green Curry

B0jangles

hdowney wrote: »

No use to me. I live in wicklow. I also don't even know where Fallon & Byrne is!

Can you get up to Bray fairly easily? They have shrimp paste in the Chinese supermarket on the main street.

And yes, it is super-stinky when you fry it. When I make nasi goreng I dry fry the amount I'm going to use a couple of hours before I cook the dinner because it'd put everyone off their food otherwise

Seaneh

Locvely recipe.
Only recipe change I'd make would be when to add the chicken.

Not long ago I cooked a green curry for a few friends, one of them happened to be second gen thai and she saw me about to add the chicken near the start like in this recipe and launched into a 5 minute scolding session about how the chicken needs to be poached gently in the simmering curry and how stir frying it before adding the liquid makes it tougher and is not the traditional method. Apparently you only ever stir fry thin strips and in a green curry you want nice bite sized chunks. After looking into it, it seems she's right. Other tip she gave me was to mix a little of the paste and coconut milk with a tiny bit of papain (papaya enzyme) and use it as a marinade for the chicken to about an hour before you add it to the sauce. It actually makes a noticeable difference.

Tusky

How many portions does the above recipe make? 2/4?

And any recommendations for the veg to add?

Curry Addict

Seaneh wrote: »

Locvely recipe.
Only recipe change I'd make would be when to add the chicken.

Not long ago I cooked a green curry for a few friends, one of them happened to be second gen thai and she saw me about to add the chicken near the start like in this recipe and launched into a 5 minute scolding session about how the chicken needs to be poached gently in the simmering curry and how stir frying it before adding the liquid makes it tougher and is not the traditional method. Apparently you only ever stir fry thin strips and in a green curry you want nice bite sized chunks. After looking into it, it seems she's right. Other tip she gave me was to mix a little of the paste and coconut milk with a tiny bit of papain (papaya enzyme) and use it as a marinade for the chicken to about an hour before you add it to the sauce. It actually makes a noticeable difference.

yes thats a nice cooking method and works well, nice tip about the papaya. if im making a massaman ill poach the chicken gently as i like to cook a massaman much longer as it really suits this heavier curry.

for a green curry i like to cook thin strips of chicken in the paste with a couple of spoons of coconut milk. i allow the chicken to absorb the caramelized coconut and colour the edges of the chicken. the chicken will then taste amazing and retain a nice texture. it may not be the most authentic cooking method but i guess i love this extra flavour in the lighter green curry.

Curry Addict

Tusky wrote: »

How many portions does the above recipe make? 2/4?

And any recommendations for the veg to add?

the recipe is for 2 portions. the paste recipe will make maybe 6-8 portions of paste.

aubergine, sugar snaps, green beans, pees, baby sweet corn, egg plant work well.

BaZmO*

Curry Addict wrote: »

aubergine, sugar snaps, green beans, pees, baby sweet corn, egg plant work well.

Same thing no?

Green Pepper and Courgettes work great too.

cotton

B0jangles wrote: »

Can you get up to Bray fairly easily? They have shrimp paste in the Chinese supermarket on the main street.

And yes, it is super-stinky when you fry it. When I make nasi goreng I dry fry the amount I'm going to use a couple of hours before I cook the dinner because it'd put everyone off their food otherwise

Where abouts on the main street is it? Is it down near O2 or up near Mermaid Centre? Have been dying to try this recipe for ages but couldn't find shrimp paste anywhere.:)

Malari

Curry Addict wrote: »

aubergine, sugar snaps, green beans, pees, baby sweet corn, egg plant work well.

BaZmO* wrote: »

Same thing no?

That's why he's a curry addict, not a veggie addict

I used sugar snap peas and they went in too early I think. I'd really throw them in at the last minute in future as I like them crunchy. I'd like to try with sweet potato too, I think that would be good in chunky cubes.

B0jangles

cotton wrote: »

Where abouts on the main street is it? Is it down near O2 or up near Mermaid Centre? Have been dying to try this recipe for ages but couldn't find shrimp paste anywhere.:)

It's almost directly opposite the O2 shop

Bray's actually pretty good these days for ethnic shopping - off the top of my head I can think of 2 polish, 1 indian, 1 philippino and one other chinese shop near the town centre.

cotton

B0jangles wrote: »

It's almost directly opposite the O2 shop

Bray's actually pretty good these days for ethnic shopping - off the top of my head I can think of 2 polish, 1 indian, 1 philippino and one other chinese shop near the town centre.

Indian???? I didn't know that either, I cook Indian at least 3 times a week & have been travelling to Blackrock for my spices.

Thanks a million, you've made my day.

B0jangles

cotton wrote: »

Indian???? I didn't know that either, I cook Indian at least 3 times a week & have been travelling to Blackrock for my spices.

Thanks a million, you've made my day.

Not at all

The indian shop is in the same little shopping centre thingy that has the tesco express, just across the road from grocery Dunnes on the Quinsborough road. it's quite small but has a pretty solid range.

Loopy

Made this tonight. By far, the nicest curry I've ever made.
The only thing I didn't have was shrimp
paste but I used a little thai paste that I
had.

Curry Addict

looks yum yum Loopy, glad you enjoyed :pac:

Loopy

I froze the remaining green paste and had to buy lemongrass & a few other ingredients so it'll be regular feature in our house whether they like it or not!
They did btw .

Curry Addict

Loopy wrote: »

Made this tonight. By far, the nicest curry I've ever made.
The only thing I didn't have was shrimp
paste but I used a little thai paste that I
had.

Loopy if you liked this recipe, you will love this one as its in a similar vein
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056172200

Loopy

I'll defo give it a shot
Thanks..

Ipso

Did you post recipes for Red, Yellow or Penang curries by any chance?

Curry Addict

no but maybe next year

oscarBravo

Made this tonight using frozen curry paste from last time. Om nom.

Mrs Fox

I made this for dinner tonight. This curry is the real deal! Consistency wise it's how it should be, light enough to slurp it like broth. All this while I've been making my green curry thickish as that's how Mr Fox prefers it.
I had it with fragrant rice so it sticky enough to soak up the curry. For veg I used garden peas, aubergine, button mushroom and red pepper. In the paste I added both galangal and ginger. And I was a bit bold at adding another stalk of bruised lemongrass when making the curry as I do love the flavour (I noticed your recipes are all about balance so I'm sorry if I went overboard with this). The spices from the paste tasted so fresh and punchy; only after you mentioned I've come to realise how citrusy ready made pastes are.
I had extra slices of finger chillies on the side as I love mine hot hot hot.
Sorry I can't put up photos at the moment. Thanks for the recipe, CA!

Curry Addict

glad you enjoyed Mrs. Fox, extra citrus flavors can work nice also, taste is a very personal thing after all

Ipso

Tried this and loved it. Only problem was i gouldn't get thai chillies and used jalapenos and some other green pepper which i think was a bit sour so the green was a bit pale. I can probably remedy this next time by adding chillis at the start of cooking. I think I over done the fish sauce also, the sugar really sets it off, hopefully I can get palm sugar soon.
As my favorite food critic Homer Simpson would say: crotch grabingly good and nine thumbs up.

irishproduce

I take it the thai fish sauce and shrimp paste are in tesco yes?

Curry Addict

irishproduce wrote: »

I take it the thai fish sauce and shrimp paste are in tesco yes?

I don't think they do shrimp paste but I could be wrong. It's difficult to get. I'm pretty sure they do fish sauce.

irishproduce

Where should I go looking for shrimp paste?
By the way, I am still making your indian curries months and months after learning your recipes :-)

Curry Addict

glad to hear your getting great mileage out of the recipes. the chinese based asian stores are the best place to look.

gagomes

Just wondering if anyone here would have a restaurant style recipe for green curry?

I was looking for the less healthy variety, creamier, with a well-rounded flavour. I would be particularly happy if I managed to replicate the green curry from my references in Dublin, Lemongrass (lifey valley) or Mango Tree (Lucan Village) - though admittedly that's probably asking too much

Curry Addict

gagomes wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone here would have a restaurant style recipe for green curry?

I was looking for the less healthy variety, creamier, with a well-rounded flavour. I would be particularly happy if I managed to replicate the green curry from my references in Dublin, Lemongrass (lifey valley) or Mango Tree (Lucan Village) - though admittedly that's probably asking too much

I have the recipe for the Lemongrass's rendang paste. It might give you a lot of clues as to how they make their green curry paste. They probably just replace the "Red curry paste" in the recipe below with a shop bought(moy ploy) "green curry paste"
They prep a "paste" in large batches.

lemongrass rendang paste
Oil, Vegetable 500 millilitre

Lemongrass, Fresh 125 gram Blend-Fine
Shallots 100 gram Blend-Fine
Garlic, Flakes, Dried 100 gram Blend-Fine
Galangal 75 gram Blend-Fine
Chillies, Red, Sweet 125 gram Blend-Fine
Ginger, Fresh 125 gram Blend-Fine
Cumin, Ground 20 gram

Coriander, Ground 20 gram

Tumeric, Powder, Haldi 10 gram

Kafir Lime Leaves 12 gram

Curry Paste, Red 125 gram

Coconut, Shredded 65 gram Roasted

Heat the oil and sweat all the ingredients for 1 hour, except the roasted coconut. After add the coconut and keep cooking until dark in colour.

For the individual dishes i an guessing they add precooked meats to a portion of "paste" and add coconut milk and veg. They then finish it with palm sugar, fish sauce and basil.

gagomes

Curry Addict wrote: »

lemongrass rendang paste[/B]
(...)

That looks spot on. I don't really order rendang often as I am a sucker for the green one

Curry Addict

gagomes wrote: »

That looks spot on. I don't really order rendang often as I am a sucker for the green one

its hard to beat the green one

I recommend you try the authentic version i posted its more satisfying imho. After eating it a few times you will never go back