Friday 30 September 2005

Thai Greenish Curry

We treated ourselves to a mortar and pestle in the vague belief that ownership of such item will immediately endow us with all sorts of culinary skills. And if intent was enough, we'd dine like kings but really, we did OK tonight.

Even though I didn't have all the ingredients I reckoned that having the fresh lemon grass; fish sauce; coconut milk; fresh ginger, garlic and chillies was enough to go towards a Thai Green Curry. But with my current pain levels my brain hasn't always been in gear and I missed buying the vital fresh lime and bought mainly red chillis rather than green for the Green curry.

I've never made such a thing from scratch before and boldly set to with pestle and mortar. There must be a knack to it which I have yet to work out and luckily our regular blender did the trick that it even smelled like Thai Curry!

I tell you, it was so easy. Unbelievably delicious, fresh and made my mouth dance with the chillis. Pity I also neglected to get Thai rice so we had heavy duty brown rice and with the recipe being a conglomeration of a number of Thai Curry recipes and what ingredients we actually had it was a surprising success. The colour was a bit sludgy with the greens blended in with the reds of the chillis but never mind. It's a dish I'd like to experiment with a bit more and well worth trying.



Original Comments:

Annie said...
That even sounds yummy to me, and I don't do curry. I'm sorry that you've had such pain with your teeth. I reckon toothache is one of the most horrible pains you can have. Have you tried microwaveable wheat bags, to apply heat to your face? I get neuralgia and I find them helpful. I use them for all sorts of pain too. Hope you have a good weekend. *Hugs*
Friday, September 30, 2005 11:32:00 PM
doris said...
Thanks Cat!

We had a microwaveable bag with cherry stones but of course I can't find it so am using my son's miniature hot water bottle and that works a treat. I'm usually a "cold compress" sort of person so going for warmth is strange for me. Thanks and hope you have a great weekend too :-)
Saturday, October 01, 2005 1:40:00 AM
jane said...
sounds really good, doris. i'm enjoying reading about your new found love of fresh foods. my mouth is watering. :)
Saturday, October 01, 2005 7:03:00 AM
Universal Soldier said...
There's nothing quite as satisfying as using a pestle and mortar. I'm making Mrs Soldier a Thai Green Curry for tea - one of my favourites.
Saturday, October 01, 2005 9:49:00 AM
Cheryl said...
SO??????
WHERES THE RECIPE??????

Sounds yummy, but please share!
Sunday, October 02, 2005 12:07:00 AM
Badaunt said...
Ooh, I make GREAT Thai curry. Instant, of course, but ALL NATURAL. And I add the veges myself.

A friend keeps telling me it's easy to make from scratch, but I haven't tried. Perhaps I should.
Sunday, October 02, 2005 2:16:00 PM
doris said...
Cheryl - it was a mish mash of a recipe but it sounds to me like I need to be asking Universal Soldier what his recipe is as it is one of his favourites! Can you please tell us?

As for mine.... deep breath for any Thai people or afficianados who cook this..... I blended:

2 sticks lemon grass
6 chillies deseeded
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon fresh ginger peeled
8 spring onions
1 tsp ground cumin
1 handful fresh coriander leaves
stalks from bunch of fresh basil
few teaspoons fish sauce
splash of sweet chili sauce
half cup lemon juice out of bottle (! - I had no limes nor fresh lemon!)

All these items were chopped first. Blitz in a blender for a few minutes (or pestle and mortar for more than 15 minutes... I gave up after about 7 minutes)

I then sank about 4 dried kaffir leaves into the mush to soak them a bit.

Put about tablespoon olive oil into hot wok and pour in all the curry paste and stir and bring up to heat.

Ours was a fish curry so I put in the raw chunks of white fish and carried on cooking until they were starting to cook. Add a tin of coconut milk and keep the heat up high.

At this point it is a worryingly thin soup but after about 15 minutes it reduces to a thick cream. Unfortuneately so does the fish so next time I won't add the fish until after the coconut milk has reduced quite a bit. At some point I threw in the handful of basil leaves which had been been roughly/barely torn.

Even at the thin soup stage I was pretty amazed with myself and thrilled as it tasted superb!

Serve with rice. Yum! Yum!

But don't use that recipe as I reckon I might have bastardised too many recipes to get that concoction but just goes to show that it was still OK even without vital ingredients or substituting with others.

I'd welcome a better recipe from anyone and will certainly try again!

Meanwhile, Cheryl has a great Fruit Cake recipe that is not to be missed!
Sunday, October 02, 2005 2:18:00 PM
Universal Soldier said...
Might I recommend the recipe found here:

http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/index.cfm?uktv=recipes.recipe&iID=512922

I just hope the link works. The recipe is delicious.
Sunday, October 02, 2005 3:51:00 PM
Ghone said...
What no photos???
Cheryl - can you post one pls - I've never see a green curry before!
It is really bright green???
Monday, October 03, 2005 7:31:00 PM
Minerva said...
Yummy - just reading the ingredients makes my mouth water and I don't eat curry....

Anytime you want to come over and cook Doris, just let me know...*grin*

Minerva
Monday, October 03, 2005 8:27:00 PM
So lost said...
I need to try this.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005 3:01:00 AM
Radin said...
It's been a long time I haven't had a curry dish and I really long for that. I used to have curry every week when I lived in Brighton. Your description of the food not only watered my mouth but also brought back happy memories. I love trying new food. And I very much love real Fish 'n Chips from the old shop by the sea rapped in news paper with lots of salt and vinegar. Eating it on a bench with friends.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005 7:22:00 AM
Pookie65 said...
Green curry is the best! I hope this bit of comfort food helped you feel just a little bit better :-)

Sending you hugs from (blistering hot) sunny Florida.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005 5:49:00 PM

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