This Tuesday I was in a dinner conundrum. My son(Ved) was super sleepy and cranky because he hadn't taken a nap at his daycare - so he had to be entertained. To add to that I only had just some remnants of veggies at home. A couple of carrots, a few pieces of broccoli, 3-4 leaves of chard, some peppers and green beans that were starting to look questionable.
The big question - whats for dinner started to play through my mind. Should I just pick up something on the way home? If I order the pizza now, it will be ready by the time I get there. But a voice in me said I had to rise to this challenge - we hadn't had enough veggies this week and we hadn't earned our pizza.
Doing anything that required me to be in the kitchen for a while was out of the quesion . The answer - Green Curry. This is a basic recipe - its pretty much the recipe on the curry paste jar with minor modifications - nothing fancy but it tastes yumm. . I was so happy with my decision even the next day as I scraped the last bits from my lunch box.
Prep time - 5-10 minutes Cook time - 15 minutes
Serves 3-4
Ingredients -
* Thai Green curry paste - 2 tbsp
* Coconut milk - 1 can
* Brown sugar - 1 tbsp
* Fish/Oyster sauce (optional) - a couple of dashes
* Chicken broth/Veg broth/Water (optional) - 1/2 cup
* Basil (optional)
* Green chillies (optional)
* Assorted veggies you have at home / any meat, fish or poultry
Things that I like in green curry - Carrots, Broccoli (my favorite), Eggplant, Green beans, Peppers (red/yellow/green/sweet), Okra, Chicken, Shrimp.
Steps -
1> Empty the can of coconut milk into a wok or a deep saute pan. Let it heat up a little. Prep your veggies etc in the mean time.
2> Add the green curry paste and the sugar. I like the Thai Kitchen brand paste the best - I've seen it at a bunch of grocery stores - Safeway, Wholefoods. Its vegan and has the best flavor (I personally didn't like the trader joes one much). I keep a bottle in my house always - for days like this. It lasts for a really long time once you refrigerate it.
3> Add the broth or water to it. This is optional. I prefer a slightly thinner curry so you can adjust the liquid level to your taste. Add a couple of dashes of the fish/oyster sauce - yesterday I wanted to eat vegeterian so I left it out. Add green chillies if you want a spicier curry.
4> Add the veggies / meat. The veggies dont' have to be cut very prettily - just biggish chunks work. If using chicken - you have to cut thin slices so it cooks quickly.
5> Put a lid on it and let the veggies cook. Check the veggie that takes the most time to cook to ensure its done (carrot in my case). Add fresh basil at the end - This is definitely recommended but I didn't have any so I skipped it - the curry was still very good.
Serve with steamed white or brown rice.
I know the recipe looks long. But it is literally heat up coconut milk, add paste, sugar and water, add veggies and let it boil. You could use frozen veggies and the prep time of cutting also goes away ! I also take some out for Ved, and then add green chillies for Vinay and me. Green curry has to have a kick to it :). I used the pressure to make rice, and I had brown rice in 12 minutes!
Do try this recipe and let me know if it works for you!