[CH] Thai Pea Eggplant recipes for Michael et al
Shantihhh@aol.com
Tue, 5 Dec 2000 15:24:38 EST
For Michael and others who requested the recipes using those wonderful Thai
Pea Eggplants Michael spoke of I have listed some of my favorites. The first
one is for Nam Phrik Pla-Raa a vegetable dip, the second and third from my
friend and cooking teacher of 15 years ago, Kasma. Her recipe for Green
Curry is perfect! I highly recommend her books: Julia Child Award winning
International Cookbook of the year in 1996, Raining Fishes, as well as her
newest book, Dancing Shrimp which was just released. Disclaimers apply here
---we are just fans of this wonderful cook and teacher!
<A HREF="http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com">http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com
</A>
My hubby, daughter and I recently took a local class from Kasma and learned
something new, well several things new :-)
DON'T cover your curries when cooking as it makes them separate!!!!!
Mary-Anne
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Nam Phrik Pla-Raa
This is a dipping sauce for fresh veggies. Sometimes I lightly blanch Purple
yard long beans, asparagus, eggplants, etc. Usually I arrange numerous
colorful veggies such as Thai Pea Eggplant, Chiles, cucumber slices, wedges
of cabbage, green beans, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, scallions, etc.
8 oz. pickled fish
2 cups water to boil fish in
8 0z. fresh water firm fleshed fish
2 stalks lemon grass (ta-krai), copped
6 to 8 cloves of garlic (kratiem) minced
1/4 + cup of chopped green Thai Chiles (Prik Khee Noo)* I use both red and
green
6 shallots, chopped
2 tsp. galangal chopped (kha)
1/3 cup (3 oz.) fish sauce (nam Pla) I like 3 crabs brand
1/3 cup (3 oz.) freshly squeezed lime juice
Boil the pickled fish in water for 10 minutes. Strain, pressing as much
liquid out as possible. RESERVE only the liquid. Discard the fish.
Broil or grill the fresh water fish until done, remove all the bones,
reserving the cooked flesh.
Put the lemon grass, garlic, Chiles, shallots, and Galangal in a mortar and
pound with a pestle until a ground coarse mash.
Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and strained fish juice. Combine thoroughly
with the finely chopped cooked fish and reserve to a bowl. Use as a dip for
fresh veggies.
Makes 3 cups
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Easy Green Curry with Pork
Gkaeng Kiow Wahn Moo
A Recipe of Kasma Loha-unchit
Ingredients
* 1 14-oz. can coconut milk
* 2-3 Tbs. green curry paste
* 1 lb. pork, cut against the grain of the muscle into bite-size strips
about
* 2 x 1 x 1/4 in.
* 1/2 lb. small, round Thai eggplants (ma-keua bprawh), cut in
* halves or quarters, or substitute with 2 long Asian eggplants, cut in
bite-size chunks
* 1/2 cup small pea eggplants (ma-keua puang), or substitute w/ shelled
fresh peas-taste will be different
* 2 kaffir lime leaves (bai ma-gkrood)
* Fish sauce (nahm bplah) to taste
* 2 tsp. palm sugar, or to taste
* 1/2 to 1 cup fresh Thai sweet basil leaves and flowers (bai horapa)
* Slivered chillies, to desired hotness
Do not shake the can of coconut milk before opening, so that the cream
remains on top. Spoon about 2/3 cup of this thick cream into a medium-size
saucepan and heat over medium to high heat. Reduce until smooth and bubbly
and until oil begins to separate from the cream. Add the curry paste and fry
in the cream for a few minutes to release the aromas. Then pour in the
remaining milk.
Bring to a boil and add the pork. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer
5-10 minutes uncovered before adding the Thai eggplants and pea eggplants.
Simmer a few minutes more, then stir in the peas (if using instead of pea
eggplants) and Kaffir lime leaves. Season to taste with fish sauce (may not
be needed if the curry paste is already salted). Add palm sugar to balance
and enhance the spice and herb flavors to your liking. Continue to simmer
until eggplants and peas are tender. Stir in the basil and chilies (as
desired for added hotness) and cook another minute. Serve hot over plain s
teamed rice.
Notes and Pointers:
The preferred canned coconut milk for this recipe is Chao Koh, and Mae Anong
is a good choice for a prepackaged paste. It comes in plastic pouches with
the picture of a young woman (Mae Anong herself) on the upper right hand
corner and is also identified as "Lemon Grass Brand." Rather than the
translated name of "green curry," this brand labels the curry with the Thai
name, "Kang Kiew Wan" (a different spelling from mine).
There are many kinds of small eggplants in Thailand. Round ones the size of
tomatillas, which we call ma-keua bprawh, are very good in this curry.
Deeper green on top and graduating to a lighter bottom, these are seedy
eggplants and taste nothing like the large purple aubergines. Cooked until
softened, they soak in the curry flavors and add a thickness to the sauce.
Other smaller members of the eggplant family are ma-keua puang and resemble
large green peas, though their taste is entirely different. They are bitter,
but when simmered in the curry sauce they impart an extraordinary roundedness
to the sauce. Much of their bitter bite dissipates when they have completely
softened with sufficient cooking. Both these eggplants are available in Thai
and Southeast Asian markets, especially during the warmer months of the year,
though the latter is usually harder to find. Specialty produce markets and
gourmet supermarkets have also started to carry them.
Using this recipe, a red curry can be easily made by substituting a red curry
paste and cut-up boneless chicken. For a fabulous roasted duck curry, buy a
roasted duck the next time you visit the Chinatown near your home and use it
instead of the pork. Toward the end of cooking, skim off the fat that has
cooked out of the duck and add two small, firm and still slightly green
tomatoes, cut in bite-size wedges.
Recipe Copyright © 1995 Kasma Loha-unchit.
This recipe is found on pages 138 to 139 of It Rains Fishes:
Legends,Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking, by Kasma Loha-unchit.
Published by Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995.
Green Curry with Fish/Shrimp Dumplings
Gkaeng Kiow Wahn Loogchin Bplah/Gkoong
Ingrediens
* 2/3 lb. ground fish paste, or small white fish fillets
* 2/3 lb. fresh shrimp, shelled and chopped finely
* 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
* 3-4 Tbs. fish sauce (nahm bplah), to taste
* 1-2 Tbs. tapioca flour
* 4 cups coconut milk (about 2 cans)
* Homemade curry paste (see below)
* 1-2 Tbs. palm or coconut sugar, to taste
* 2 long Asian eggplants, sliced at a slanted angle 1/4-inch thick; or 12
round Thai eggplants (ma-keua bproh), halved or quartered
* 1/2 cup pea eggplants (ma-keua puang), if available; or use fresh
shelled peas
* 2-3 kaffir lime leaves; tear each into 2-3 pieces
* 1-2 green jalapeno peppers, each cut into 6-8 long slivers
* 1-2 fingers gkra-chai root (finger-shaped rhizome), thinly sliced in
diagonal pieces
* 1 cup Thai sweet basil leaves and flowers (bai horapa)
Green Curry Paste:
* 4 dark green jalapeno or serrano peppers, chopped
* 15-20 green Thai chillies (prik kee noo), chopped
* 10 white peppercorns, finely ground
* 1 Tbs. coriander seeds, lightly toasted till aromatic, then ground
* 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
* 1 tsp. course sea salt
* 2 Tbs. chopped lemon grass (use the bottom end of stalk, sliced thinly in
rounds before chopping)
* 1 tsp. chopped Thai galanga
* 1 tsp. grated zest of fresh kaffir lime; or substitute with finely
chopped reconstituted dried kaffir lime peel
* 2 tsp. finely chopped cilantro roots, or substitute with 1 Tbs. chopped
stems
* 3 shallots, chopped
* 6 cloves garlic, chopped
* 2 tsp. gkapi shrimp paste
Prepare the paste ingredients. If using dried kaffir lime peel, soak first to
soften. For galanga, use the fuller-flavored, reddish brown root imported
from Thailand. Grind the dry spices finely in a dry stone mortar or spice
grinder.Set aside. Pound the herbs a little at a time, starting with the
hardier ones, until each is reduced to a paste. Combine the pounded herbs and
ground dry spices and pound together with the gkapi shrimp paste to form a
fine, well-blended paste. Set aside.
If ground fish paste is not available in Asian fish markets in your area, use
small, white-flesh fish fillets and chop as finely as possible with a cleaver
or in a food processor or blender. Then pound the fish with a heavy stone
mortar and pestle until it is completely reduced to paste and no longer
distinguishable as fish. Do likewise with the shrimp. Keeping them separate,
sprinkle some ground white pepper, a little fish sauce and about one
tablespoon tapioca flour to each. (You do not need to add these ingredients
to ground fish paste bought from the fish market.) Knead into the ground fish
until sticky, then the shrimp. Set aside.
In a large pot, heat about a cup of the thick coconut cream from the top of a
can of coconut milk (or the rich milk from the first pressing of coconut
pulp) over medium to high heat. Reduce until oil begins to separate or the
cream looks thick and bubbly. Add the curry paste and fry in the cream for a
few minutes until aromatic. Pour in the remaining coconut milk and bring to a
boil.Season to taste with fish sauce and balance with palm sugar. If using
pea-eggplants, add them next and simmer about 10 minutes over low heat,
uncovered, before adding the other eggplants and kaffir lime leaves. If
substituting with peas, add them together with the sliced eggplants. Bring
sauce back up to a boil and simmer a few minutes or until the eggplants begin
to soften.
Using two teaspoons, drop the fish and shrimp paste mixtures in small,
bite-size chunks into the curry sauce. Return to a boil and add the slivered
jalapeno peppers and gkra-chai pieces. Continue to cook until eggplants are
tender and the dumplings cooked through (they float when cooked). Stir in the
basil until it wilts. Remove from heat and serve hot with lots of plain
steamed rice.
Notes and Pointers:
There are many kinds of small eggplants in Thailand. Round ones the size of
tomatillas, which we call ma-keua bprawh, are very good in this curry.
Deeper green on top and graduating to a lighter bottom, these are seedy
eggplants and taste nothing like the large purple aubergines. Cooked until
softened, they soak in the curry flavors and add a thickness to the sauce.
Other smaller members of the eggplant family are ma-keua puang and resemble
large green peas, though their taste is entirely different. They are bitter,
but when simmered in the curry sauce they impart an extraordinary roundedness
to the sauce. Much of their bitter bite dissipates when they have completely
softened with sufficient cooking. Both these eggplants are available in Thai
and Southeast Asian markets, especially during the warmer months of the year,
though the latter is usually harder to find. Specialty produce markets and
gourmet supermarkets have also started to carry them.
There is a variety of long eggplants in Thailand that is green in color
rather than purple like the ones you find in Chinese and Japanese markets.
They are sweet and very flavorful and are excellent in greet curry. From time
to time, I have seen them sold at farmer's markets. If you can find them, try
them in this recipe.
This recipe is found on pages 140 to 141 of It Rains Fishes:
Legends,Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking, by Kasma Loha-unchit.
Published by Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995.
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This is another Green Curry recipe---this time with Chicken
Green Curry with Chicken
1 can (13.5 fl oz) Chaokoh coconut milk
2-4 T green curry paste
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken
1/2 cup small Thai pea eggplants
4 Thai Dragon Chiles
2 T fish sauce to taste
1 t dat palm sugar
large handful Thai basil leaves
2 t freshly squeezed lime juice
1-2 red Chiles, seeded and julienned.
Cut chicken into small, 1" pieces. Separate thick coconut milk from thin
coconut milk. In a large saucepan or wok, bring 1 cup thick coconut milk to a
boil on moderate heat. Continue boiling, stirring vigorously, until the milk
thickens and has an oily surface. Do not let milk burn. Add curry paste, and
keep cooking and stirring until appearance has changed, about 3-5 minutes. Be
sure not to burn the curry. Add the chicken and stir fry until the chicken is
whitish in color. Add thin coconut milk gradually, while stirring. Return to
gentle boil, then reduce heat. Add Thai pea eggplant, Chiles, fish sauce,
sugar, 1/2 of basil leaves, and lime juice and simmer 5-10 minutes until
chicken and eggplant are tender. Garnish with remaining basil and red Chiles.
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CHICKEN CURRY WITH POTATOES AND Thai Pea Eggplant
2 # chicken boneless and skinless (thighs are good)
12 mall red potatoes, unpeeled and left whole
3/4 cup fresh Thai Pea Eggplants
1 large dry onion cubed
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 16-ounce can coconut milk
1 teaspoon ground fresh red chili paste
2 tablespoons yellow curry paste (Krung kaeng kari)
6 servings
Combine coconut milk, curry paste and red pepper paste and fry until
fragrant. Add chicken and vegetables, simmer until done. Serve with Jasmine
steamed rice.