Thai red curry

Well, what else do you do with Thai chillies except make a Thai red curry?

Just like every other recipe these days, there are a million and one red curry paste and red curry recipes on the net. I knew what basically needed to go into the paste so followed a recipe that I thought had about the quantities and ingredients I would use (the last curry I made was an epic fail as I didn't follow my gut and added far too much shrimp paste and fish sauce making it an inedible salty mess).

I adjusted the recipe along the way but pastes are hard to judge as you really can't appreciate the flavour  until it is fried off and used in a recipe. I did taste the raw paste and it did help me to adjust it (and remind me I had left out the garlic). I find therefore that curries need adjusting according to your taste and when you realise how the paste is tasting once fried off. Here are the ingredients I ended up using for my paste:

Red curry paste

• About 8 small red Thai chillies, cut in half, seeds left in 
• 4 Tb sliced lemongrass (buy in jars from Asian supermarkets)
• 1 Tb coriander stems, chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1 1/2 Tb minced ginger
• 1 tsp shrimp paste (don't smell it)
• 1 tsp salt
• zest and juice of 1 lime (most recipes call for kaffir lime which is readily available but I had limes at home and think they work fine)

You can either go all traditional and grind it in a mortar and pestle or use a stick blender as I did. I chopped it all finely in a small food processor first and then chucked it all into a bowl and used the stick blender until a paste formed. I do suggest tasting it at this stage and adding what you think it needs (bearing in mind fish sauce and brown sugar are added to the curry so will add sweetness and saltiness).

This made probably 3/4 cup of paste - probably enough for Elliot and I for two curries although I will do one curry and some fritters with the rest of it.

Thai chicken red curry

• 2 Tb red curry paste
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 carrot, julienne 
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• half a head of broccoli cut into small florets
• 4 chicken thighs
• 1 Tb brown sugar
• 1 Tb fish sauce
• About 3/4 can light coconut milk
• 3/4 cup chicken stock

Those are basically the ingredients I had in mind but as above, it needed adjusting quite a bit along the way.
My basic method for the actual cooking goes along the lines of:

• Heat oil in a fry pan and add the curry paste. Fry for about two minutes until fragrant.
• Add the coconut milk and stock and bring to the boil. Lower heat to a simmer. 
• Add brown sugar and fish sauce, stir well and simmer for a couple of minutes. I also added a squeeze of lime juice.
• Add the chicken and veges and cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through and veges are cooked but al dente.

Now at this stage I realised a) it wasn't spicy enough; and b) there wasn't going to be enough sauce (gotta have loads of sauce to get that roti into).

Unfortunately you can't just chuck some more paste and liquid in as the paste really does need to be fried off so in a separate fry pan I fried another tablespoon and a half of the paste and then added about another half cup of stock and a touch of coconut milk (I don't like the sauce too pale and coconuty which is why the curry looks a lot darker than you would normally see). I also added about another teaspoon of brown sugar and a teaspoon of fish sauce and a squeeze of lime

So after simmering this extra liquid for a couple of minutes I added it to the curry and left it to simmer until everything was cooked.

Quickly fry off the roti (fabulous frozen roti you take straight from the freezer and dry fry in a pan for a couple of minutes each side).

I would also normally have the rice nicely cooking in the rice cooker during this process but I didn't have any (not really a staple in our house and had forgotten to buy some).

Spoon curry into bowls and top with some coriander.

Well, the result.... the best curry I have made. It was the perfect level of heat, the chicken and veges were cooked to perfection and it was just plain yummy.