Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Some of our friends recently had us over for a dinner.  We were so excited to arrive to a large pot of Thai Chicken Curry simmering on the stove.  For me, curry is a comfort food.  We liked their recipe so much that we made it again a few nights later. 

The following recipe provides a basic outline of the curry but you can adjust the quantity of the ingredients according to your taste.  Alter the spice with the chiles, the salt with the fish sauce, and the flavor and color with the curry paste.  Depending on what vegetables you use, the texture will change.  And the amount of solid ingredients (meats and veggies) that you add will determine how chunky or soupy your curry is.

For our curry, I roasted carrots, sweet potatoes and garlic.  For simplicity, I omitted the fish sauce and the lime leaves because I didn’t have them on hand.  (Actually, I had hoped to add the lime leaves but I discovered that they are are currently out of season.  The lime leaves are very fragrant and add a complexity to the flavor but if you can’t find them, the curry is still great without them.)

I used yellow curry paste but you can use red or green, depending on your taste.  I let whole dried chiles simmer in the sauce.  They imparted a hint of heat to the curry without overpowering it with spice.  If you want extreme spice, however, you can add minced chiles to the sauce.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, tofu or other meat

2 cans light coconut milk

3 Tbsp curry paste

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 small can bamboo shoots, drained

2 small Thai chiles, to taste

4 tom kaffir lime leaves, optional

3 Tbsp fish sauce, optional

1 potato or yam, cubed

2-3 carrots, chopped in cubes

2 garlic cloves, minced

Cut the raw vegetables into bite-sized cubes.   Toss the cubed veggies and minced garlic with 1-2 Tbsp oil and roast them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until they are light golden and tender.  Flip the veggies after 15 minutes to ensure that they do not burn and stick to the pan.  If you choose to roast garlic with the veggies, you may need to stir them more frequently to ensure that the minced garlic does not burn.

Slice the raw chicken into thin strips. 

Pour 2 cans of light coconut milk into a large sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat.  Bring the milk to a boil, stirring frequently.  Add the curry paste, brown sugar and fish sauce and stir until the sauce is smooth. 

Add the chicken strips and cook until the meat is fully done.  Add the bamboo shoots, lime leaves and chiles.  Mix the ingredients together and then turn the heat to low.  Add the roasted vegetables and toss with the rest of the curry.  Let the curry simmer for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend together.  Serve over Jasmine rice.