[CH] Curry paste
Doug Irvine (dirvin@bc.sympatico.ca)
Wed, 17 Jun 1998 08:12:19 +0000
I just found this terrific new(to me)chile paste out of Thailand, a
vegetarian chilli paste...cheng sim, comprised of soybeans, dried chili,
red onion, garlic,salt, sugar, vegetable oil, in that order on the
label, made by CAL Industries & Marketing Co. Ltd, in Bangkok, it is a
really good chile paste, of course the first thing I did when I opened
the bottle(8 ozs ...$3.49 Cdn)was stick a spoon into it, tried a small
taste first(discretion, etc!)then had a good taste...sweet to the
tongue, hot to the back of the mouth, REAL hot when it hits the throat,
and it lingers, and lingers, and half an hour later,was still
there...most of the chile pastes that I have had before have had fish or
shrimp paste incorporated into them, but for any vegetarians out there,
this is the answer to hot vegan! So I had to try it out on a
recipe...cant remember if I posted this one before, but here it is :
Chicken & Potato Curry Thai
1 can 14oz coconut milk
2 lbs chicken breast, skinned and boned, cut up
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls peanut oil
4 tbls red curry paste
1-2 tbls fish sauce
1 tsp palm sugar, brown sugar or honey
3 kaffir lime leaves or 2 tsp of shredded lime rind, green only
1 good bunch of basil leaves, about ten or so
1 one inch cube of fresh ginger root, chopped finely
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped medium fine
Pour the coconut milk into a good sized stainless pot add the salt and
then add the chicken pieces...bring to a boil, turn to simmer and cook
for about ten minutes until the chicken is cooked, remove from heat and
set aside. Put peanut oil in a wok, add the chopped onion, garlic,
ginger and cook a little until vegs softened, add the chile paste,
(curry paste) and stir fry for about a minute or two, until it is
fragrant, lower the heat and add the fish sauce, then the reserved
chicken in coconut milk, and cook until reduced somewhat, for about five
minutes, there should not be too much sauce...place into a serving dish,
add the basil leaves, chopped up, and then throw the shredde lime leaves
or lime rind over all the dish. Serve with Thai rice or basmati
rice...This is a take off from a recipe I have done for years, which I
got from Madhur Jaffreys Far Eastern Cookery..enjoy it...Cheers, Doug in
BC