Thursday, February 11, 2010

The half-hour Thai curry

Viv and I both love Thai food but it's quite difficult to find a fully vegetarian version for him anywhere. Even the so-called vegetarian Thai curries often have fish sauce or chicken stock. And that's how I created this dish. I found a bottle of vegetarian Thai curry paste at Giant and the list of ingredients confirmed that it was indeed 100% vegetarian.

This Thai curry will take you only half an hour to make, preparation included, trust me on that. I have timed myself and proved it. I made it only with broccoli and babycorn, but you can add all sorts of other vegetables like carrots and potatoes.

Ingredients
Broccoli - 1 small
Babycorn - 1 can
Onion - 1 small
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red chillies - 10 (Control, bewdas, control. Sabke bas ki baat nahin.)
Vegetarian Thai curry paste
Coconut cream - 4 tablespoons
Salt
Sugar
Chilli powder (if 10 red chillies are not enough for you, muahahaha!)

Method
1. Cut the broccoli into small pieces.
2. Wash the babycorn pieces and slice them horizontally.
3. Microwave the broccoli and babycorn with two spoons of water for about 5 minutes.
4. While the microwaving is going on, grate the garlic and chop the onion and red chillies.
5. Heat oil and add the onions, garlic and red chillis. Fry them for a while until the onion turns transparent.
6. Take the vegetables out of the microwave oven and add them.
7. Add salt and cook for a while.
8. Add two tablespoons of the Thai curry paste and enough water to make the gravy. Don't add too much water or your curry will be too dilute. Bring to boil.
9. Add two tablespoons of sugar.
10. Turn off the heat and add the coconut cream. Stir well.
11. Taste the curry and add salt/sugar/chilli powder as required.
12. Serve with rice.



25 comments:

Angelsera said...

gold!! for the first time!!

Good recipe..must try

Arun said...

The recipe sounds yummy, if a bit on the fiery side.

Now, do you have a vegetarian recipe for this - eternally in your debt, etc. :)

* KEANG KEAW WHAN KUNG, GAI, NUA
Green curry in coconut milk, chil and basil? (#41. on the menu. They claim to make a vegetarian version which is very good, but I suspect, is not really so.

Porkodi (பொற்கொடி) said...

Silver

Kanan said...

I am hungry already.. sounds delicious!

Kanan said...

What in the world is coconut cream?

Porkodi (பொற்கொடி) said...

hahaha... after reading the recipe i started doing the vegetarian paste research that i forgot to comment about the post itself :D

Sounds tasty, but is there a way we can make this paste at home? ingredients?

Manasi said...

Ahh.. It is veryy mouth watering.. :)

Neha said...

I so dislike Thai food...I once went to one Thai place and very eagerly took some soup...and it was the wierdest soup I have ever tasted!! Why do they put so much of cinnomon....read your recipe....looks like indianised version Thai curry...am I right?

Bizzare said...

Nice one !! Will surely try sometime. Thanks for sharing.

Geomon said...

kya bhai, apna dish ko to apna bolne ka.
ab isse 'the half hour bhai curry' bol denga to thai logon ka kya jeyenga? naya dish invent ho jayenga, bhai ka naam bhi phamous hoyenga. :P

Nishith Prabhakar said...

looks wow!

Viky said...

There is a Thai Green Vegetable Curry which is served here in the UK and it tastes so close to Indian with its coconut base gravy! Yum, it is with steaming rice!

Sayesha said...

#Angelsera,
Yeah, do try it! I always used to think that cooking Thai food is complicated but actually it's quite all right. :)

#Arun,
Thanks. :) The veggie version of the green curry sounds totally doable, I'll work on it and once mastered, will post the recipe. :)

#Porkodi,
Sheesh! :P

#Kanan,
Coconut cream is just a thicker version of coconut milk. You can actually use coconut milk in this recipe, just don't add too much water.

#Porkodi,
The brand I used is Tae-pee (http://tae-pee.com/tom_yum). I've typed out the ingredients listed on the bottle for you: chilli, galanga, lemon grass, lemon juice, citrus leaf and vegetable oil.

#manasi,
Thanks. :)

#N,
Cinnamom in Thai food?! Are you sure it was Thai food you had??

//looks like indianised version Thai curry...am I right?

Nope.

#Bizarre,
You're welcome. :)

#Geomon,
LOL! I LOVE your idea -- half-hour Bhai curry. ROFL! :D

#Nishith,
Thanks. :)

#Viky,
You know, I never associated coconut base with Indian curries before I came to Singapore? Maybe it's because I never had the coconut base curry when I was a kid. It was the usual tomato-based gravy, and in some cases, cream or cashewnut paste. But here, the impression of any Indian curry is the one with a coconut base... weird...

Asha said...

hi

remembered u when i had some steamed rice and green thai curry at a get-together yesterday. :-)

- asha

Vishnu said...

What is the sugar for?

Arun said...

Bhai has fire-proof taste buds!

My nearby grocer had "Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste" (www.thaikitchen.com) - authentic, vegan, gluten-free - with red chili pepper, lemon grass garlic, galangal (thai ginger), salt, shallot, spices, kaffir lime. Close enough to "chilli, galanga, lemon grass, lemon juice, citrus leaf and vegetable oil". For coconut cream, there was Goya's coconut cream for piña coladas, already sweetened.

Fortunately, I am mirch-averse and so put very little of my own because the curry paste more than compensated. First mouthful and my forehead was sweating!

Great quick recipe! I'm going to figure out the right way to add some mushrooms and tofu to it :)

Arun said...

Restaurant name where they serve half-hour bhai curry - Bhai-chaaraa :)

Sudeep said...

10 chillies everytime? *keeps in mind to watch what I eat at Sayesha's place*
Must tell you that your recipes do sound very simple, though 'transparent onions' did make me laugh :D

The curry looks scrumptious in the pic, like Brooklyn Decker on the SI cover page. Hmmm..

Sayesha said...

#Lady Hope,
Hehehe... thanks. :)

#Vishnu,
Thai curries tend to have a dash of sugar. Personally, I think sugar+salt can be a killer combination. Even when I make pasta, I add some sugar to the tomato base. :)

#Arun,
Awesome! I guess mushrooms (the canned ones) can also be diced, microwaved and added with the broccoli I guess, not sure how tofu should be done. I'm not a fan of tofu, so I've never cooked it. :)
PS: LOL @ Bhai-chaaraa. You make me sound like cattle! :O

#Sudeep,
Hahaha! I'll tone it down when you get here. Kab aayega? :)
PS: I had to go and google Brooklyn Decker. Chhee chhee... bar mein ghor paap! :P :P :P

Kanan said...

Thanks for the coconut cream info. :)

Vishnu said...

Hahaha.. I sometimes wonder how different we all are. For me mixing sugar in any main course cooking is a strict no-no!

Sayesha said...

#Kanan,
You're welcome. :)

#Vishnu,
Haha! Haven't you ever had a Gujju thali? :)

Sandip Chaudhuri said...

Lerk Thai in Centre Point has a separate list for vegetarians..

Technofun said...

I tried Thai curry..when I visited Bangkok..did not liked it..it was so taste less..

Would like to try out your version..thanks for recipe..

Arun said...

Dear Bhai:

Fresh mushrooms: Using fresh mushrooms defeats the purpose of the recipe. Makes the curry nice but sauteeing the mushrooms takes ages.

Canned bamboo shoots do well.

I get Nasoya's extra firm cubed tofu here - the tofu is already cut into centimeter sized cubes. Tried frying it a little before and also adding it after the broccoli and baby corn. Tofu adds a lot of substance - makes it a complete meal. But for that you have to like tofu! Fortunately I do.

Lastly tried to make an almost dry subzi. So-so.

The curry refrigerates well and reheated is just as tasty. :) But I lose track of proportions if I try to make a huge pile of it.

-Arun