Thai Veggie Coconut Curry Served in a Coconut [Zack]

I really like coconut curries.  There are a million different recipes online of how to make them.  To avoid the confusion, I always start with a set base of ingredients.  Then I deviate my recipe based on what I want to cook.  I combine a paste of ginger, garlic, and chilies with coconut milk, fish sauce, and soy sauce.  That’s it!

You can get crazy and add mussels (cook until they open), sautéed beef strips (flash brown them in a pan), shrimp (cook in curry until finished), or chicken (flash brown it in a pan first).  The recipe here is a basic one with only vegetables.  I served it in a coconut that I cut in half (directions here on how to halve a coconut).

Process:

Here is a shot of the ingredients:

Grind up cumin seeds, garlic, and ginger in your mortar and pestle.  If you want heat, add 1-2 birds eye chilies.  If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, just use ½ tsp cumin powder and chop the ginger and garlic.

Start a pot over medium low heat, and add 1T of ghee or butter into the pot, along with 1tsp of sesame oil.   Slice the onions into moons, wash and slice the mushrooms, and dice the eggplant and zucchini into ½ inch cubes.

Also, take out your lemongrass and use the back end of your knife to bash it up – it will release more flavor into the curry.

Add all of the veggies into the pot.

Saute until they start caramelizing a bit - about 10 mins.  Add the ginger/garlic/cumin paste, plus the lemon grass during the last minute of cooking, and stir everything around until it becomes fragrant.

Pour the coconut milk into the pot and flavor it with the fish sauce and soy sauce.  Taste and see if you need to add 1/2 tsp of sugar.  Cook for a few minutes to let all of the flavors combine.  If it's too thick, you can add a bit of water to thin it out.  I added 1/2 cup to mine, but it depends on the type of coconut milk you bought.

Serve in a bowl or a half coconut. Garnish with fresh-chopped cilantro, a wedge of lime, and some extra chilies for the brave.

Ingredients:

1tsp cumin seeds
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1-2 birdseye chilies (optional)
1 red onion
2 cups mushrooms
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 stalk lemongrass
1T sesame oil
1T ghee or butter or canola oil
13.5 oz / 1.7 cups of coconut milk
1/2 cup water

1T fish sauce
1tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar

Song:  Drake - Hold on, we're going home

Tom Kha Goong (Thai Coconut Soup with Shrimp) [Rhonda]

Do not be afraid, all you fierce lovers of Thai food. While this fragrant, unbelievably delicious soup has a long list of unusual ingredients, it takes no real skill outside of crafting a shopping list. Galangal, a knobby cousin of ginger, may present your biggest challenge to find. I failed. So I subbed in some ginger and kept going.

If you're lucky enough to live close to an Asian market, shop there. We have CAM, Columbus Asian Market, where you can get a whole mess of birdseye chillies for a dollar or two, lemongrass, all kinds of exotic mushrooms and cheap limes. I got more gingerroot than I'll ever use for $1.83. And FYI, they have trays of peeled garlic for a couple bucks, in case you do lots of stir fry.

For this soup, if you don't like shrimp so much and prefer chicken, you can slice two boneless, skinless chicken breasts into strips and cook them in the soup where it calls for shrimp. (It then becomes Tom Kha Gai Soup.)

We made the chicken version in my Cooking with Friends group a few months ago, oddly, as part of an Australian menu (lots of Asian influence in the northeastern part of the country near the Great Barrier Reef). It was one of the favorites of the day.

Ingredients:
3 cups chicken stock, preferrably homemade
2 stalks lemongrass, tender parts cut into thin diagonal slices
3 kaffir lime leaves (or more to taste), chopped into slivers
3 slices galangal, cut into thin matchsticks (you can use ginger if you're desperate, but galangal is more intense)
6 straw or button mushrooms, sliced
Salt to taste
1/4 cup lime juice
2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce
12 ounces large shrimp (frozen is fine)
2 cups coconut milk (I made do with a 13.5 ounce can...works just fine)
2 or more red birdseye chillies, split and seeded
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro, more to garnish

Place the chicken stock in a large saucepan and add the lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal, mushrooms and salt and bring slowly to a boil, then reduce heat.

Add the lime juice, fish sauce and shrimp and simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes, taking care not to overcook the shrimp.

While stirring, add the coconut milk and chillies. Bring slowly back to a boil, continuing to stir. Don't cook it too quickly after adding the coconut milk or it will separate. Stir in cilantro.

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with cilantro.

Suggested soundtrack: Rihanna's "Stay"

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce [Zack]

If you’ve ever been to a Thai restaurant, you have most likely had an appetizer called Chicken Satay. It’s about as popular as the ubiquitous Pad Thai (i.e. the General Tso’s Chicken of Thai food). Well, It’s popular because it’s a great crowd-pleaser. The sauce couldn’t be easier to make if you have a food processor. You can knock this appetizer out in less than 20 minutes from start to finish.

The first time I tried to make this was in Manayunk, PA at Lauren’s house. We were feeling adventurous, so we bought some peanut butter, ginger, vinegar, and guessed what else was in it until we got close.  It's near the authentic version, but has a little bit of a twist on it.  We’ve used this sauce on everything from shrimp to steak to whole roasted chickens.

Process:

We will marinate the chicken first.  

Cut the chicken thighs or breasts into long strips about 1 inch wide by 3 inches long.  Put them into a bowl and toss with the vinegar, sesame oil, curry powder, and garlic powder.

Now, move on to your peanut sauce.  

Loosely dice the ginger, garlic, onion and chile (optional) and put them into your food processor.  Process until you have a paste.  Then, add the peanut butter, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and rice wine vinegar.  Take it easy on the sriracha at first, you can always add more later ;)

Process until smooth.

Start your grill or pre-heat a saute pan to medium.  Take your marinated chicken and skewer them.  

Add a bit of oil to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes per side.

Serve on a plate with a generous glop of peanut sauce!

Ingredients:
(makes about 12 skewers or so)

4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs
2 T garlic powder

2 T curry powder

1 T sesame oil

1 T rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 tsp salt

bamboo or metal skewers

1 inch ginger
2 garlic cloves
½ small onion
1 birdseye chile
3 T rice wine vinegar
3 T hoisin sauce
1 cup peanut butter
4 T sriracha sauce (I add this much, but you can back off a bit if you want)

Busta Rhymes - Woo ha