How to Make Curry Paste |
|
There are many kinds of curries, curry pastes and sauces that go with various dishes. Some curry pastes are made fresh and some are preserved or pickled. Once made, most of them can be stored for quite a long time. Most traditional families make their own curry pastes and sauces because they can be sure to get the flavor and spiciness that they want. |
The Thai Curry Queen has to be Green CurryThere is something about green curry paste that to my palate does not survive storage. Canned pastes, and even the ones packaged in resealable plastic tubs like Mae Ploy, which are generally quite good, lack the brilliant color and sparkling flavor that the freshly made paste brims with. It just plain doesn't taste as good somehow. I think it is because the flavor and fragrance of Green Curry relies so much upon fresh herbs and chiles that much of that goodness is lost when the paste is preserved in a can or plastic container.
The ingredients to the curry paste, once found and obtained, are simple to combine into a pungent, fragrant paste, particularly if one has a Sumeet grinder. If one does not have access to such a tool, a food processor combined with a mortar and pestle will make, if not quick work of the curry paste making, at least, easier work than it would be by doing it the traditional way, which is with a mortar and pestle alone. With only the food processor, the curry paste was too chunky and lumpy; it refused to smooth out into anything resembling a true curry paste. But, I found that if I used a food processor to puree the vegetable ingredients into bits, I could then use the mortar and pestle to finish the job and make the curry paste just as velvety smooth as I wanted it to be. Tempted to leave the shrimp paste out of the curry paste mix?Don't ! Unless you are allergic to shrimp, or are keeping kosher and do not eat shellfish, please do not leave out the shrimp paste. I know it smells kind of strong, and doesn't look good, but it really does give a great boost of umami flavor to the Thai curries. Without it, the curry paste tastes a bit flat, and seems to be missing something. That is because it is. If you must substitute, you can use red miso-but I urge you that unless you must avoid shrimp for health or religious reasons, that you give the authentic ingredient a try. |
|
|
| What is best cooked in a green curry paste?
Well, pork is traditional, but as I am not easily eating red meats these days, I opted for chicken. In truth, my favorite animal-based proteins cooked in green curry are crab and salmon; I like to make a thick curry sauce from the paste and coconut cream and slather it over salmon steaks or filets and then broil them to perfection, and then use the rest of the paste to make a vegetable based curry and serve the salmon on a bed of steamed jasmine rice with a circlet of the curried vegetables around it. THAT is my number one favorite version of that dish, but I don't think I will be having it for a while-not until Kat is born and weaned from breastmilk, anyway. (I am concerned at the amount of methylmercury that is being found in large predatory fish like salmon and tuna-it is a contaminant that can cause serious nerve and brain damage in fetuses and developing children.) Another favorite is green curry crab.You can glimpse the vegetables I used in the curry above; I don't know why I like to match the colors of the veggies to the curry so much with this dish, but I do. Or, maybe it is because some of my favorite green veggies are in season when the Thai basil is up and happy-in the summer. Anyway, eggplant-green Asian or Thai eggplant if I can get it-is a necessity. The velvety richness of eggplant marries perfectly with the creamy curry sauce and the sharp herbal flavors and chile heat. Zucchini, especially if it is not overcooked, is also wonderful; its blandness is a perfect carrier for all of the flavors of green curry. Green beans add a verdant crunch, especially when not allowed to overcook, and sugar snap peas, again, barely cooked, add sweet sugary zing. The onions that I use in this dish, however, are always purple. Why? Because green and purple look lovely together, that is why! I usually use regular large red onions, but at the farmer's market last weekend I found these glorious royal purple scallions, and had to use them, and they not only were very pretty, they added a good amount of snappy flavor to the finished dish. I just floated them into the sauce near the end of cooking and then garnished with basil leaves and roughly chopped cilantro, stirring them in at the last moment so that they barely wilted by the time the curry was served. Owing to the heat of this dish, I served it with plenty of steamed jasmine rice. Paired with a Thai tomato-cucumber marinated salad, this was a wonderful dinner, full of fresh, delightful flavors that really let the vegetables stand out, while still being highly seasoned. It is a dish that I only make a couple of times a year, but I always look forward to it, and it is always worth the extra time and trouble it takes to make it and make it well.nut Curried Chicken |
| The Tandoori Files |
|
|
