Green Chicken Curry

During our Thai cooking class, we learned to make three different types of curry. I anticipate I'll be making each one of them here, barring any major issues with finding the ingredients. I ate a lot of green curry while I was in Thailand and before I took this class, I had no idea what the little green round vegetable was that was part of each green curry I had. Apparently it was a small eggplant.

This photo was taken at the market we toured as part of our class. Our instructor is showing us three different types of eggplant. the small ones in the middle, that almost resemble mini watermelons, are the ones used in Thai green curry. I have no idea if I will be able to find these here, but apparently, any eggplant will do. First you have to make the paste. Recipe below

Green Curry Paste

Ingredients

Dried Spices

• 1 tsp coriander seeds, roasted until fragrant
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, roasted until fragrant
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, roasted until fragrant
• pinch of salt
• 1-2 big green chiles
• 1-5 small green chiles for extra spicy

Fresh ingredients

• 1 tsp galangal, skin removed, chopped
• 1 TB lemongrass, chopped
• 1 piece kaffir lime peel, chopped (about 1/4 tsp)
• 1 tsp coriander root, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 tsp shrimp paste

Instructions

Put the small chilies, coriander seeds, cumin, black peppercorns into a mortar and pound them into a powder. Then add the rest of the ingredients and pound for 15 minutes until paste is smooth.

It's important to note that you should grind the dried spices first, then mix with the chopped fresh spices.  Also, the curry paste can keep a few days at room temperature, a few weeks in the refrigerator, or 3-6 months in freezer.

Green Curry Chicken (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 7 1/2 oz. of chicken breast, sliced
• 1-2 TB of green curry paste
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 apple eggplants, quartered or cut in pieces
• handful of sweet basil leaves
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, rip off the stem and torn into small pieces
• 1 big red chili, sliced
• 1-2 TB palm sugar (brown sugar can also be used)
• 1 TB fish sauce

Directions

If you use fresh coconut cream, heat coconut cream in the wok over medium to let it reduce water until oil is separated then add the curry paste. Stir until fragrant.

If you are using coconut cream from the tin or box, fry green curry paste first with vegetable oil until fragrant and then add the cream.

Add chicken, eggplant, then add coconut milk. The consistency of curry sauce varies with the amount of coconut milk.

Cook them on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar.

Add sweet basil, kaffir lime leaves, and big red chili. Remove from heat and serve in a bowl.

Tom Yum Goong (Hot and sour prawn soup)

One of the highlights of the Thai cooking class was making this soup and seeing just how spicy each chef would make their version. We learned how to make two versions of this soup, one of which was a creamy version which uses a few additional ingredients to give it a creamy, cooler taste.

The way to increase the heat in this soup is to add one chili at a time. For those who just like spicy food (and I'll put the clarifier here of 'white people spicy') then just one chili pepper is plenty to give it a nice kick. However, if you like spicier foods, you can add additional chili peppers to increase the heat. I made mine with 2, but I think I could have brought it up to 3. Two of our chefs opted to go the three-chili route and their soup was right up my spice level alley. You be the judge on what kind of heat you want to bring.

Tom Yum Goong (serves 2)

Ingredients for making prawn stock

• 7 oz raw prawns
• 4 cups of water or vegetable stock (cabbage, carrot, and coriander)

Directions for making prawn stock

Remove the prawn heads. Peel the prawns' shells, leaving the tails intact. Using a sharp knife, slit each prawn down the back and devein. Keep heads and shells, set the prawns aside.

Make stock by putting the heads and the shells of the prawns in boiling water with vegetable stock and braing back to boil for 5-10 minutes until they are deep orange.

Ingredients for making soup

• 1 TB of Galangal or Thai ginger (skin removed/cut into thick slices)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves (rip off stem and torn into pieces)
• 2 stalks of lemongrass, sliced into 1 inch long
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 1 lime, cut into 3 wedges
• 1 1/2 oz mushrooms
• 1 tomato, cut into 8 pieces
• 1-5 small green chillies, finely chopped (depending on how spicy you want it)
• 2 TB fish sauce

Directions for making soup

Remove the prawn peelings and bring the stock back to a boil.

Add all vegetables into the pot, except the lime, then boil them for 2 minutes and follow with the prawns and fish sauce.

Cook for 10-20 seconds until the prawns are completely cooked through then turn the heat off and add lime juice.

Stir well and serve, can sprinkle with coriander for garnish.

****To make a creamy version, add 2 tsp of Tom Yum paste or Thai chili paste and half a cup of coconut cream or plain condensed milk.

 

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is one dish that I've never gravitated toward when ordering Thai food. It can tend to be overly oily depending on where you get it, and I'm not the biggest fan of tofu. But you can easily substitute a meat into the recipe should you desire.  I never ordered it while in Thailand, but it was an option to cook during my class. This version was not oily and had a lot of great flavor. So for all you vegetarians out there, enjoy!

Pad Thai (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 7 oz. fresh noodles (or dried noodles, soaked in water for about 10-15 minutes)
• 2 TB cooking oil
• 1.5 oz tofu, sliced into small pieces
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 oz chives, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3.5 oz bean sprouts
• 2 TB ground roasted peanuts
• 1 small shallot, chopped
• 1 TB fish sauce
• 1 TB soy sauce
• 2 TB oyster sauce
• 2 TB tamarind paste (or lime juice)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions

Heat cooking oil in wok over low heat. Add tofu and fry until turned golden brown.

Add shallow and the eggs and scramble well until egg cooked.  Then add rice noodles and water, stirring well until noodles get softened.

Add fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, tamarind paste, sugar and chili powder, mix well until the noodles turn brown.

Add chives, bean sprouts and roasted peanuts. Stir fry quickly (5-10 seconds) ensuring everything is well combined. Can keep on high heat for half a minute to dry all the water and sauce.

Turn off the heat and serve with extra sugar, peanut, chili powder and piece of lime.

Chicken Satay

For the first of my blog arch on Thai cooking, I'll be sharing the recipe I learned during my Thai cooking class. Before I get to the recipe, let me tell you about this class.

The class was held in a home which had a separate demonstration kitchen area as well as a covered patio to cook. The two instructors were fantastic and in addition to teaching us how to make several different dishes, they also educated us on the flavors of Thailand. We got to pick what we wanted to make out of several choice options, but walked away with a recipe book of all the options!

There were six people in the class and we all represented different countries. The first couple from the UK, included a man from Glasgow who was quite the personality and his sweet wife. They lived outside of London.  The next couple was from Poland, and the wife/girlfriend (I'm not quire sure what the nature of their relationship was) had won some local cooking competitions in her native Poland. Rounding out the group was me and a man from Australia.

The instructors would joke throughout the class as to who would put more chili peppers in their food. The man from Glasgow usually won out, and me and the Aussie were a close second. What can I say, I like my food hot!

So first up is the chicken satay. This sauce is boss. :)

Chicken Satay (serves 2-4 as an appetizer)

Ingredients:

• 4-6 pieces of chicken tender fillets (approximately 3/4 pound)
• Bamboo skewers

Marinade

• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp sweet condensed milk
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (important to note that this is not coconut milk, but cream. Coconut milk in the U.S. is mixed with water, so this is thicker, straight from the coconut. Hope to find this in an Asian supermarket)
• 2 TB cooking oil
• pinch of pepper
• pinch of salt

Peanut sauce

• 1 TB cooking oil
• 1/2- 1 TB red curry paste (depends on how spicy you want to make it)
• 1/2 cup ground peanuts
• 2 tsp palm sugar (regular sugar will work)
• 1/2 TB fish sauce
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 TB tamarind paste or lime juice

Directions

Mix all the marinade ingredients together with the chicken. Allow the chicken to marinade 30 minutes.

While the chicken is marinading, make the peanut sauce. To do this, put the oil in a saucepan with curry paste and cook over low heat and fry until fragrant. Then add coconut cream and ground peanuts and continue stirring for few seconds. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind paste and stir well for 3 minutes until the sauce is thick.

Once the chicken is done marinading, skewer each slice of chicken onto a bamboo skewer (soak skewer in water to prevent sticking). Grill the skewered chicken and brush with remaining marinade until done and still moist. Probably 3-4 minutes a side.

Serve chicken with sauce as an awesome appetizer.

What I ate in Thailand

Before I left for my trip to Thailand, I did a lot of research...on food. I rewatched the Anthony Bourdain "No Reservations" episode from Chiang Mai, I read up on some top foodies' best places to eat, and packed a bunch of stomach distress medicine in my suitcase. Upon arriving in Chiang Mai, all of this preparation went right out the window.

While food in Bangkok and Phuket was good, none of it compared to the food I ate in Chiang Mai. I found it was best to just "wing it" in Chiang Mai. Yes, I checked out Trip Advisor for some general restaurant recommendations, but that really only worked for some of the more upscale restaurants. And when I say "upscale" I'm not necessarily talking about fine dining, but places with white tablecloths, that are indoors (maybe even with air conditioning!). Other times I just opted to find one of the random silver pots on the street and point to one of them and just see what I got. And I'm happy to report, everything was wonderful.  Here is my culinary adventure through Chiang Mai...in pictures. I'll follow up with several of the recipes I learned to make in my cooking class over the next two weeks. Enjoy!



 

This was a lovely panang curry with jasmine rice from one of the nicer restaurants (W by Wanlamun) I dined in which doubles as a culinary school. It was a short walk from the guesthouse I was staying in and I ended up eating their twice. They had a very inventive approach to how they presented food, even offering up veggie spring rolls up in shot glasses.
But this pananag curry was my favorite dish there. While I felt like it could have been a bit more spicy, the flavors were a nice balance and the chicken was cooked perfectly.  For more food envy, here is their website: http://www.wanlamun.com/.


One of the regional Northern Thai/Burmese specialities, which can be found in large pots along the street and in most of the restaurants, is called Khao Soi. Khao Soi is a curried noodle dish that usually includes chicken or pork, noodles, and the occasional stray vegetable. The dish is topped with crunchy noodles and served piping hot.

In short, it's like taking an indian curry (which tends to be runnier than Thai curries) and putting on top of rice noodles. Delicious. And from what I understand from my guidebooks, not a dish you can find very easily in Thai restaurants in the states. But I will definitely be on the lookout for it.

A trip to Thailand would not be complete without sampling some of the street foods. The smells are overwhelming as you walk through the night markets. There are a lot of exotic dishes out there, and to be honest, I'm not sure what it was I was eating half the time, but it was usually meat on a stick like these guys. For 10-20 baht per skewer (somewhere around 75 cents each) you have your pick of sweet street meat.

 

While most of what I ate over there consisted on meat, rice and noodles, there was the occasional opportunity to satisfy any sweet tooth I might have. This beautiful bit of street food, the roti, is the Thai version of a crepe. This was filled with banana and nutella. Divine.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the food I enjoyed on my trip. The next few entries will include pictures and recipes from the Thai cooking class I took while on my trip.

 

 

White Bean Chicken Chili

I'm back!!! And ready to wreak havoc in the kitchen like the Frankenstorm is wreaking havoc on the East Coast.

After 24 hours in flight back to the states, I arrived last week exhausted, but absolutely thrilled about my trip. Thailand was a true culinary masterpiece from fine meals, street food, and a cooking class, I'll have a lot to share over the next week or two. But in case you've been living under a rock, we're in a severe weather advisory here in DC and what better way to hunker down for cold, wet weather than to make a hearty chili.  So here's what I made yesterday. More savory than spicy, this is great for this weather. And I'll be eating it until I lose power.

White Chicken Chili (serves 6)

 

 

Ingredients



2 TB olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds ground chicken

1 tsp salt, plus more for seasoning

2 TB ground cumin

1 TB fennel seeds

1 TB dried oregano

2 tsp chili powder

3 TB flour

2 (15-ounce cans) cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained

1 bunch (about 1 pound) Swiss chard, stems removed, leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces

11/2 cups frozen corn, thawed

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 

 

Directions

In a duth oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes.

 

Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, Swiss chard, corn, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 55-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle the chili into serving bowls and sprinkle wit parmesean cheese and chopped parsley.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow, I leave for a 2 1/2 week trip to Thailand. This means the blog will be on a bit of a hiatus because I wasn't organized enough to cook ahead and drum up some posts. But considering I'm going to an amazing culinary location, and have plans to take a 7 hour cooking class, you better believe I'll have some awesome posts for when I get back.