Dear friends,
Whenever life beats me up, I retreat to the kitchen. There’s nothing like a day spent puttering over the stove to help me find my center. Chopping, measuring, blending, sauteeing, frying, tasting, stirring . . . all are a form a meditation for me. Eating my creations afterwards is my Zen moment.
I spent a good portion of Sunday making a shopping list and visiting the grocery store to restock my empty pantry. I cooked chickpeas, which I later turned into hummus, and quinoa, which I turned into this yummy Asian salad I found on Pinterest. I chopped bags and bags of veggies, then I fried up some firm tofu in order to pack “Super Bowl” lunches next week. (By the way, if you like tofu as much as me and don’t have a tofu press, get one now. I love, love, love mine!)
But the highlight of my day was a yellow curry that surpassed the one Mr. Mom and I ate at a new restaurant last Thursday. We’re longtime fans of Thai food so we were thrilled when a new Thai restaurant opened up in our town. Their yellow curry was so good I was inspired to make my own.
I consulted several recipes on the internet but couldn’t find a single one that was precisely what I wanted. So what follows is Joan’s adaption, culled from a variety of sources. It’s not difficult, and it doesn’t have to cook long, but it does take time to prep. The payoff is totally worth it, though, so I hope you’ll give it a try soon and let me know what you think.
And you don’t even have to wait until a bad day.
***
Joan’s Yellow Curry
1/2 recipe yellow curry paste (see recipe below)
1 cup cooked, chopped chicken (I used leftovers from a rotisserie chicken)
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped small
1/2 medium white onion, cut into thin slices about 3″ long
2 carrots, shredded and chopped
1 7-oz jar of pickled baby corn, drained and rinsed
2 TBLS vegetable oil
1 cup chicken broth
2 13.5-oz cans of coconut milk
Chopped fresh cilantro
Hot cooked rice, I prefer Jasmine
Put vegetable oil in large saucepan and heat over medium high heat. When sizzling, add onions and carrots and saute until tender. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, and curry paste and stir well. When mixture is almost boiling, add potato and cover until mixture boils. Lower heat just a bit and cook about 15 minutes or until potatoes are nearly tender. Add chicken and corn, cover again, reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Taste and adjust flavors as needed. If not salty enough, add salt or fish sauce. If too sour, add brown sugar. If not hot enough, add cayenne pepper. I made several adjustments while cooking my curry, adding salt, sugar and cayenne until it was “perfect.”
Serve a cup full of hot curry over a bowl of jasmine rice. Top with chopped cilantro.
Yellow Curry Paste
You can buy curry paste in the Asian aisle of many stores. But I always prefer to make mine fresh. It’s easy, and you can taste the difference.
1/2 stalk lemongrass (this is only occasionally available at my grocery store; they were out this week so I omitted it)
2-4 serrano peppers, chopped with seeds left in (I used 2 but recommend 4 because I had to add cayenne at the end to boost the heat)
2 shallots, sliced
4 garlic cloves
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 TBLS cinnamon (I used 2 but Mr. Mom recommends 1)
2 TBLS fish sauce
3/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBLS ketchup
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup coconut milk, or just enough to keep your food processer blades moving
Put all ingredients in your food processor and blend thoroughly. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
With gratitude {for a day spent in my happy place},
Joan, who has no explanation for why it’s taken her this long to cook a yellow curry since Mr. Mom orders it every time we eat at a Thai restaurant
Debt of Gratitude 