Gustatory Circuit » Thai

Crispy Catfish Curry

Yvonne — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:20:39 +0000

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 4

So I went grocery shopping yesterday, all proud of myself that I’d remembered our re-usable grocery bags. I happily loaded stuff into my cart, despaired over the lack of shiitakes and garam masala, and then headed for the checkout.

Only to discover I’d forgotten my wallet. I put everything back, sniffing that maybe I didn’t want to buy a roast chicken anyways. We had frozen gyoza for dinner last night.

Today’s grocery shopping was a bit more successful, not least because I went to a different store that does carry shiitakes (but still no garam masala). Got home, whipped the stuff into the fridge/pantry, and set to work making dinner.

This is based an Emeril recipe. Now, I find his on-screen persona to be as appealing as the love child of a walrus and a woodpecker, but his food is really good. But I still took it upon myself to change up the recipe a little.

Crispy Catfish Curry
Adapted from Emeril Live

1/4 c. all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Dried thyme
Garlic powder
Paprika

1 – 1 1/2 lbs. catfish fillets
1/2 c. grapeseed oil
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2-3 T. red curry paste
2 T. soy sauce
2 c. low-salt chicken broth
1 c. cherry or grape tomatoes, optionally cut in half
1 8-oz. can bamboo shoots, drained
1/2 c. basil, chopped
1 15-oz. can straw mushrooms, drained

Season the all-purpose flour to taste with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, dried thyme, garlic powder, and paprika. Dredge the catfish fillets in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.

Heat the oil in a 12-inch, straight-sided sauté pan until it shimmers. Fry the catfish fillets until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side. Use a slotted spatula to transfer the fillets to a plate lined with paper towels. Pour out all but 2 T. of the fat and return the pan to the heat.

Add the bell peppers and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the curry paste and soy sauce, stirring to combine. Pour in the stock, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the bamboo shoots and straw mushrooms and stir to combine. Season the curry to taste with salt. Add the catfish fillets, using the spatula to break each fillet into 6-8 pieces. Cook until everything is heated through, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and stir in the basil.

Serve over steamed white rice.

That’s the way I made it tonight. I like the tomatoes for a little extra color and nutrition. In the past I’ve also added a can of drained chunk pineapple for some sweetness.

I use the pre-made red curry paste from Thai Kitchen, mostly because it’s easy (to use and to find in a grocery store). But once I made my own curry paste from scratch using the recipe from Emeril, and oh man, does it make a difference. I’m going to have to do that again one of these days.

This meal comes to about $6 per serving. Here’s the budget breakdown:

Item	Price
1.3 lbs catfish fillets	$8.33
1 yellow bell pepper	$1.79
32 oz. package low-salt chicken broth	$1.99
1 8-oz. can bamboo shoots	$1.19
1 15-oz. can straw mushrooms	$2.19
1 package cherry tomatoes	$3.99
1 package basil	$3.89
Total	$23.37

Pantry ingredients: Garlic, oil, spices
Leftover ingredients: Basil, chicken broth

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Red Chicken Curry w/Bamboo Shoots

Yvonne — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:35:12 +0000

Active prep: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Serves: 4-6

This is the kind of recipe that makes me wonder why Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee is such a hit. I mean, don’t want to make your own curry paste, use pre-made stuff from a jar. Duh, right? This recipe is dead easy because mostly you’re just dumping stuff out of cans and jars into a pot and stirring. You don’t need a TV show to tell you how to do that!

I started with a recipe from Thai: The Essence of Asian Cooking by Judy Bastyra (this book seems to no longer be available, but the author has two other Thai books out: Thai Cooking and Thai Food and Cooking) and improvised a bit. I’ll post what I actually did below and then follow up with my suggested tweaks.

Red Chicken Curry w/Bamboo Shoots
Adapted from Thai: The Essence of Asian Cooking by Judy Bastrya

2 13.5-oz. cans coconut milk
1 c. low-salt chicken broth
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
3 T. red curry paste
1 T. Thai fish sauce
1 T. packed brown sugar
1 8-oz. can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
1 15-oz. can straw mushrooms
1.5 c. frozen sugar snap peas
1 T. lime juice
Handful of fresh basil leaves

Season the diced chicken liberally with salt and pepper.

Pour 1 can of coconut milk and half the chicken broth into a large pot. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste and stir until it is well-integrated. Add the chicken, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the chicken is barely cooked through. Stir often to make sure the chicken doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Pour in the remaining can of coconut milk and remaining chicken broth. Add bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, and sugar snap peas. Increase heat to medium-high and bring everything back to a boil, stirring often.

Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and basil. Salt to taste. Serve over steamed white rice.

This was plenty good as is (I ate two bowls of it), but I think it could be even better.

Suggested changes: more chicken (at least another 1/2 lb.), more fish sauce (one more tablespoon, maybe stirred in at the very end with the lime juice), more bamboo shoots. I’d also consider throwing in some grape tomatoes or canned pineapple chunks. In that case, I’d probably cut back on the brown sugar or eliminate it entirely.

To give the curry more depth of flavor, next time I’ll probably brown the chicken in oil first (perhaps throw some ground cumin and coriander into the seasonings?), set it aside, and saute some onions/shallots before pouring in the coconut milk. There’s lots of room for experimentation while keeping it a fast and easy meal.

Budget:

Item	Price
2 cans coconut milk	$3.38
1 can bamboo shoots	$1.15
1 can straw mushrooms	$3.69
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts	$2.99
Total	$11.21

Pantry ingredients: Chicken broth, curry paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, sugar snap peas and 1/2 lime squeezed for juice (both left over from the bison curry), basil from the balcony herb garden, and rice.

It looks like we’ll get five servings out of what I made today (two dinners for two people, plus tomorrow’s lunch for me). I think the actual cost of the pantry ingredients here is pretty minimal, but even if you round the total up to $15, that’s still only $3 per serving and therefore pretty economical.

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Spicy Thai Curry w/Bison

Yvonne — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:31:29 +0000

Active prep: 20 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 4

The original version of this recipe calls for beef sirloin tips, but the grocery store was out. But I noticed they had bison sirloin tips in the amount I needed, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Because bison is so much leaner than beef, I adjusted the cooking time down a bit to avoid overcooking it. I also reduced the amount of ginger in the recipe because I hate eating tiny ginger bits, but am too lazy to pick it all out (and uh, because I didn’t have more than that on hand).

Spicy Thai Curry w/Bison
Adapted from Fine Cooking Oct/Nov 2006

1 T. grapeseed oil
1 1/2 lb. bison sirloin tips
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
3 T. finely chopped fresh ginger
2 t. Thai red curry paste
1/2 low-salt chicken broth
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1 T. fish sauce
1 1/2 c. frozen sugar snap peas
1 lime, zested and then cut into wedges
Handful of coarsely chopped fresh basil

Heat the oil in a 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat until very hot. Season the bison liberally with salt and pepper. Add the meat in a single layer to the pan and sear until browned, about 1 minute per side. Transfer meat to plate and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. Add shallots and cook 2-3 minutes until soft and lightly browned. Add ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add curry paste and stir for about 30 seconds, breaking up the paste so it integrates well with the rest of the ingredients.

Add half the chicken broth, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen the browned bits. Add about a quarter of the can of coconut milk and stir to blend in the curry paste. Add the remaining broth and coconut milk and the fish sauce and stir.

Increase heat to medium-high and return the beef and any accumulated juices to the pan. Stir to combine and simmer 6-8 minutes until meat is cooked through. Turn off the heat and remove meat to a cutting board to rest for a few minutes. While meat is resting, stir in the sugar snap peas and cover.

Slice the meat thinly across the grain. Return sliced meat to pan. Add lime zest. If peas are still cold, turn the heat back on medium until they heat through. Turn off heat. Stir in basil.

Serve over steamed rice with lime wedges.

Budget:

Item	Price
1 1/2 lb bison sirloin tips	$14.99
1 bag frozen sugar snap peas	$1.89
1 lime	$0.10
Total	$16.98

Pantry ingredients: Grapeseed oil, salt and pepper, shallots (left over from the pan-seared salmon), ginger, curry paste, chicken broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, basil
Leftover ingredients: Sugar snap peas

Given the massive use of pantry items here, I’ll round this up to $20 total, but it’s still fairly budget-friendly at $5 per serving. You could save a little money by using beef. If using beef, increase the simmering time to 8-12 minutes.

The curry base is delicious—I’ll probably try it out with different meats and veggies.

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Green Curry w/Chicken & Eggplant

Yvonne — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:54:28 +0000

Active prep time: < 30 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Serves: 4 (with rice)

That was my dinner. The basil was harvested straight from our pistou basil plant on the balcony. Mmm!

This is the Green Curry with Chicken and Eggplant recipe from December 2007 Fine Cooking, p. 69. It’s a quick and easy one-pot meal.

First you cut up some eggplant. The recipe calls for Japanese or “very small” Italian eggplants, but I used Chinese eggplants (see eggplant varieties here).

I prepared the eggplant the Mom way, which is to soak the cut up pieces in some salt water to keep it from turning brown while you do other prep. Given the usual practice of salting eggplant and squeezing the moisture out prior to cooking, I have no idea if the Mom way is actually a good idea.

Green Curry with Chicken & Eggplant
Adapted from Fine Cooking December 2007

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into bite-sized chucks
8 oz. eggplant, cut into 1-in chunks
2 T. cooking oil
2 T. green curry paste
1 15-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1 c. low-salt chicken broth
2 T. fish sauce
1 T. light brown sugar
Fresh basil
Steamed rice

Heat the oil in a 2- to 3-quart pan over medium heat. Add curry paste and cook about 2 minutes. Make sure to break up the paste and work it into the oil. If you have a splatter screen, keep it handy.

Increase heat to medium high and add chicken in a single layer. Leave it alone to brown for about 2 minutes, then stir and cook until lightly browned all over, about 2 minutes more.

Add the coconut milk and chicken broth. Stir to combine, scraping up the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the eggplant and bring to a simmer. Let simmer 8-10 mins until chicken is done and eggplant is tender.

Remove from heat. Add fish sauce, sugar, and salt to taste. Stir to combine. Stir in basil.

Serve over steamed white rice.

I will definitely make this again, but next time I might add some shredded bamboo shoots with the eggplant for some extra crunch, and probably throw in a tablespoon or so of lime juice right before serving for some brightness. And more curry paste. Two tablespoons gave just the tiniest bit of heat.

It says serves four, but if you have big eaters in your family (like us), it might only serve two.

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