Curry Story and Market Day

      Curry is a crowd pleaser ......, to local and foreigner. Green curry is probably the most popular choice out of all curries.

     When living in the south, where the food is as hot as the weather, green curry we do in the south has much stronger flavor than the original. My mum, makes the best curry ever. I love the way she puts chicken blood and liver in the curry also. My mouth waters just when thinking about biting on the juicy piece of blood and warm curry oozes in the mouth. 

      As far as I remember, my aunt makes her curry every time from scratch, presses her own coconut milk and this keeps my cousins going home nearly every weekend for hearty meal. 

      *My aunt would say grinding herb in your mortar is the best way to get its flavor into the curry. I tried it twice with mortar.  It's worth the effort but, after this 2 times, I'd get my fresh paste out of the blender :D (or get it from a good store).

       Today I'll show you where I get mine... (and even if I plan to get only curry, it turns out like huge shopping every time. lol)

Let's start with original curry paste...

For 4 persons

1) 5 Green banana peppers
2) 10 Bird's eyes chili
3) 1  tbsp. Finely sliced Galangal
4) 1 tsp. Coriander Seed
5) 1 tsp. Cumin Seed
ุ6) 2 tbsp. Finely sliced Lemongrass

7) 2 tsp. Kaffir Lime Zest
8) 4 cloves Peeled Garlic
9) 4 cloves Peeled Shallots

If you decide to pound them with mortar and pestle -
: Start with dried seed then gradually adding more ingredient, using sunglasses, don't rub your eyes or your face during paste-making. I did it before. It wasn't pleasant. lol

What else do we need beside the paste?

- 200 grams Chicken breast (you could also use beef/ prawn/ crab, personally I really like it with crab too.)
- 2 1/2 cups Fresh coconut milk (you can use the canned one, but if you can get it fresh, this is highly recommended. You really can tell the difference in flavor)
- 5 green eggplants
- 1/2 cups Thai sweet basil leaves
- 1-2 red cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp Fish Sauce
- 1 tbsp. Sugar (optional, I don't use in mine)
- 3 tbsp. Canola or other cooking oil

.....But.....

Since it is Sunday and we are getting paste from the market.

I'm sure a lot of expats in Thailand has been to this Or Tor Kor market, near Jatujak. If you go there next time, don't miss Royal Project Shop. They have really good locally-grown product with friendly price.

                                Let's start with garlic and shallots

                                                                         And more....

You can find here nearly all the ingredients you need. Including, dried shrimp, dried/cured fish.

Or something ready-to-eat : Deep-fried shrimp cake or steamed sausage

Curry Pudding..... yum...yum..

Spicy and crispy herb. Tasty just with plain rice.

Many people finds Durian unpleasant but I'm sure you can't say no to Durian chips.

Jackfruit - Be very cautious when walking under ripe jackfruit or durian tree.

Finally, our main character today -- Curry paste.

The paste from this market is my favorite, just have to get some paste when ever we drive by.

OK. I hope you enjoyed brief market tour, let's get curry started!

+++ ----+++

-> First, I like to customize the paste to my flavor, by adding one more medium size banana pepper and 2 Fingerroots. For subtle sweetness from the pepper and fingerroot makes hotter curry.

                           Now we have our green curry paste!

 -> Prepare vegetable.  












Cut eggplant into 4 and give them a short bath. This will keep them from browning.

The next step is mixing the paste with 1/4 cup coconut milk (before heating them)

Once, it is mixed well, put on stove, low heat.

Keep stirring continuously.... good curry maker needs patience :)

Add coconut milk if the mixture gets too dry, but only little by little.

When is it good to go? Coconut fat will appear on the surface and gives beautiful layer to the curry. Like this, those layer around the ladle.

Then meat can go in. Only be careful if you use seafood, keep the cooking time short so they stay juicy.

Stir briefly, add more coconut milk and let simmer

Then test the flavor, add fish sauce/Palm Sugar (Optional). For store-bought paste, you might not need more salty flavor.

Then add eggplants.

Let simmer until eggplant is cooked. Shortly before removing curry from heat, add basil and pepper. 

OK. I hope rice is cooked just in time. 

Bon Appetit!

Thank you for reading :)