My Thai – Going the green curry way!
I think that the one cuisine which has taken over the world by a storm (or, lemongrass) is Thai (other than Italian of course). In Australia, every third eating joint is a Thai restaurant. Back home in India, almost all 5-star hotels have a Thai restaurant option and smaller players are getting into the Thai food wagon in hoards. So then who am I to not join that party?
Thai food is colourful, flavourful and still has the warmth of comfort food. But most of all, I characterize Thai food with the impeccable balance of flavours, that is unmatched. It is one cuisine that necessitates the usage of sweet, salty, bitter, sour and the one we love most, spicy! More scientifically, Thai cuisine really forces us to engage all the regions of our tongue, which can never be a bad thing, really!
Thai food has always been a project in my kitchen, where I would plan cooking Thai at least 2-3 days in advance, what with the procurement of exotic ingredients like Galangal, Fish sauce, Thai chillies, Kaffir lime leaves etc. At least, that is what the food snobs have told us!
Recently, this changed, after our travels to Thailand, where learning more about the food showed to me that Thai food is only about balance and creating that balance simply. Of course, like every other cuisine there are elements that you cannot do without, but most of them can be substituted.
Since then, I have recreated many Thai favourites at home. But this time, without agonizing over the ingredients and without making multiple trips to Asian food store. The best part was that the taste never suffered. It did what food always does to me, transport me back to my travels there!
- 5 medium Green Chillies
- 1 small Bunch of Coriander Leaves cleaned
- 3-4 Onion leaves
- 1 small Onion roughly chopped
- 1 small piece Galangal/Ginger 5-7 cms
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 small piece Lemongrass 2 inches, chopped finely
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1/2 tbsp Cumin Powder
- 1/2 tbsp Ground Black Pepper
- 4-6 Kaffir lime leaves/ Rind of one Lemon
- 2 cups Full Fat Coconut milk
- 1 cup sauteed and salted to taste Eggplants, Mushrooms, Capsicum, Zucchini And any other vegetable/ meat/ fish you would like
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 Lemon's juice
- Put all your green paste ingredients into the food processor and turn them into a paste. Add Olive oil to add base for the paste
- Heat Olive oil in a pan. Add the blitzed Green curry paste to the heated oil. Cook for two minutes
- Add the full fat Coconut milk to the paste and stir to combine
- Add the sautéed veggies/ meat/ fish to it. Add salt to taste
- Add lemon juice before serving with warm boiled Basmati or Jasmine rice
