Quick dinner: green curry and brown rice

I finally got my hands on a couple of big tubs of curry paste, one red and one green. Where did I find them? WalMart of all places. And they were super cheap.

This was a quick dinner I threw together the other night. It was delicious and took less than 30 minutes.

If I were to buy ingredients especially for this, I think I would have used cashews instead of peanuts, and I would have added water chestnuts.

I think it would also be good with a piece of white fish or some shrimp and peapods.

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
2-3 TBS green curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 TBS oil
1/3-1/2 cup stock
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 can bamboo shoots
1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
1/3 cup peanuts
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cut or torn into bite-sized pieces (I used two chicken thighs and it was a perfect amount)
cilantro to garnish

Heat garlic, onion and oil until fragrant. Fry curry paste with the garlic and onion, then add stock slowly to help break up the paste.
Add the pepper, bamboo, chicken and spinach and stir to cover with the curry mixture.
Slowly add the coconut milk and stir until completely combined. Heat 5 to 10 minutes more over medium heat.
Add peanuts for the last 5 minutes.

Serve over brown rice and top with chopped cilantro for garnish.

A tale of two curries

So, although Jake attempted to impose a "no new food" moratorium after seeing the mountain of St. Patrick's Day leftovers in our fridge, I got around that "regulation" by making a recipe I knew he would love: tofu tikka masala.

But, this post is called a tale of TWO curries, not just one. So, yes. I made a tofu tikka masla AND a chana masala. I adapted two web recipes here and here and followed one main caveat: if I don't have it, it doesn't go in.

Jake's curry

Emma's curry

Somehow, mine ended up a little too spicy, so I made a quick yogurt sauce with the sweet curry powder from Penzeys mixed with smoked paprika.

I also didn't have any garam masala on hand, so mixed my own a bit haphazardly. I also didn't have any fresh ginger, so relied heavily on my powdered. Pro tip: measure your yogurt for the tikka masala. Mine just got plopped in until it appeared to be the right color, but then tasted heavily of yogurt. I jazzed it up with about a teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, tumeric and sweet curry powder.

Both were super delicious, but kind of needed a veggie aspect. I think next time I'll try to attempt a spinach or palak paneer type side dish. But, both curries were not a terrible first try.

Chicken! Inspired by curry

Ok, so this week's Serious Eats Weekend-Cook-and-Tell was based on curries. 

I was super excited, and by Friday I had my game plan. I consulted with a friend, Shruti (@inothernews), who, being Indian, I consider to be an expert of the curry realm. She gave me 2 awesome looking recipes for shrimp curry. I did a Google search, and found an Indian market a few blocks from my house.

It all went downhill when I headed out to the Indian market and found this: 

Where my market should have been: a Seven Eleven, a Greyhound bus station, and a Chinese restaurant. #Googlefail

I'd like to say that my friendly neighborhood Giant Foods came to the rescue, but let's not kid ourselves. I was able to pick up some mustard powder, but none of the other ingredients Shruti had directed me toward. 

So, back to the chicken. I had these chicken drumsticks I picked up last week at HMart. $7.50 for 18 drumsticks. Yes. I threw 8 of them into the crock pot with some stock and a hodge podge of spices: 8 cloves of garlic, ginger, a ton of kosher salt, white pepper, a sprinkling of garam marsala, some yellow curry powder I picked up from an Ethiopian place, and some chili powder. I let them go until the chicken was nearly falling off the bones. 

The chicken went into the oven at 325 to crisp up the skin, and in a sauce pan, I mixed 2 cups of the crock broth, about 1 1/2 c Greek yogurt and about 1 TBS cornstarch until a creamy, dark yellow sauce formed. 

I also made some rice - sushi rice was all I had in the house (and Giant wanted ridiculous amounts of money for a small sack of basmati), so I made rice with some more of the seasoned broth. 

You've already seen the results. It was delicious! But, sadly, I feel it's ingenuine to my friend - who tried to help my cause - and basically an insult to an entire culture to call my dish "curry." So - chicken and rice, inspired by curry. 

But, for next time, here's the recipe:

Shruti's shrimp curry

2 pounds shrimp, peeled deveined
2tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp pepper, crushed
10 karhi (curry) leaves (if you can get them)
1 tbsp lemon juice
vegetable oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, in slivers
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 tbsp paprika
3/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp turmeric (I saw fresh turmeric at my whole foods today!!)
3 hot chilis (less if spice averse)
14 oz of coconut milk.

1. heat few tbsp of oil, when hot, add the mustard seeds , when they are popping, add the curry leaves, if using. then add the onion and garlic, stir fry until lightly browned then add the ginger.
2. add 1 cup of water, turmeric, salt, chilis, coriander and pepper and paprika and cayenne and lemon juice and bring to a boil. simmer for 5 minutes.
3. add the shrimp stir around until they are opaque, stir in coconut milk. heat it through and serve!

dreaming? of *real* Indian food. I think I have a Groupon for an Indian place nearby! 

Coconut red curry

Finally got my pho cravings fulfilled, but I also threw on a big wok-ful of red curry last night, so Jake and I are totally set for lunches this week. 

These photos are actually from when I made it for dinner last week. 

First, ginger, garlic and Thai red curry paste (I like a TON, 3-5 TBS, or most of the jar) get fried in about 4 TBS oil. When it smells absolutely amazing (or when the garlic starts threatening to burn), mix in your coconut milk. It turns a beautiful, silky orange-red color. 

Next, mix in your proteins (chicken and tofu, in this case), and veggies (chopped spinach, water chestnuts, green onions and potato -- I used sweet potato in place of little red potatoes last week, and they were great). I also put in a little chicken stock (about 1 cup or so)

Season with paprika, cayenne, yellow curry powder and basil.

About 20 mins later, this is what you've got. Squeeze a lime over before serving.

RECIPE:

Coconut Red Curry (serves 4)

1 TBS minced ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 small jar red curry paste

1 can coconut milk

1+ c homemade chicken stock

1 block tofu, fried 

2 chicken breasts, cooked, cubed or shredded

2 large handfuls chopped spinach

1 -2 c potato pieces (normally I use red potatoes, but subbed in a sweet potato with good results)

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 TBS curry powder

1 TBS paprika

1 TBS cayenne pepper (or to taste)

See instructions with photos

Dreaming? of attempting to make pho at home next weekend!