on a grey day, a green curry ...
I don't know about you but when the weather is grey and the temperature cool (relatively), one good antidote to any kind of blue is getting behind the counter and cooking up a bit of comfort ... and the comfort I had in mind this morning came in the form of a curry from Nigel Slater's book, "Appetite," one of a collection of Nigel Slater cookbooks I've gathered over the years, all as gifts from my sister, Eithne. He's a terrific cook, a great food writer and absolutely inspires you to get into the kitchen and make something happen.
The recipe is as follows:*
For the green curry paste:
lemon grass -- about 4 stems, the tender inside leaves only, chopped
hot green peppers -- 6 medium hot small ones, seeded and chopped (because I'm a bit of a wimp I only used three. Four I reckon is probably a happy medium).
garlic -- 3 gloves, peeled
Galangal or ginger -- a thumb-sized piece, peeled and chopped (since I don't know what Galangal is ... ginger).
shallots -- 2 peeled and roughly chopped (this morning I used an onion because I didn't have shallots. Not too criminal I don't think)
cilantro -- a good fistful
lime zest -- a good teaspoon, or 5-6 lime leaves, chopped
lime juice -- 1 lime to start
thai fish sauce --
black peppercorns -- ground, a good half teaspoon
The rest of it:
1 & 1/2 lbs boned chicken pieces (my friends it is true, when I saw this I asked myself, "what exactly does "boned" mean? Is it off the bone or on the bone, and if it's off the bone, why not "deboned?" I rang my sister in Oklahoma and sent a text to my sister in London, asking them both: does boned mean "off the bone?" Neither of them had gotten back to me by the time I reached the meat counter so I asked the very sweet guy there, and he said that yes indeed, boned means off the bone although he agreed with me that it is just that little bit ambiguous. A little while later, I got a text from my sister in London, "of course u plonker! XXXXX" Charming.)
coconut milk -- 1 & 3/4 cups, (basically 1 can of coconut milk).
chicken (or vegetable) stock -- 1 & 3/4 cups
green peppercorns -- fresh if you can find them, a palmful. (I could only find them in the pepper grinder form and can't figure out how to (or if it's possible), to get the lid off so I just ground 'em in... See what you can find.
Oil -- Vegetable or peanut, 2 0r 3 tablespoons
Cilantro leaves -- a handful
Thai Basil Leaves -- a handful, roughly torn. (I couldn't find Thai Basil Leaves in the neighbourhood... will seek them out for sure).
* re. text above, text in parenthesis is mine, the rest is Slater's.
All right so yes, chop and peel everything up there for the green paste, but it in the blender and hit the button. On the lemongrass I found them at a local bodega but am not sure how easy they are to find in general. You may have to shop a little further depending on where you live. And yes, it's important to use only the inside tender leaves because the outside leaves are coarse and, trust me, you will notice them in the eating of it.
There is a lot of pleasure here for me, chilling in the kitchen, watching podcasts of the Sunday Morning shows, chopping shallots, peeling garlic, enjoying the aroma of the lemongrass. One word of warning though: when you're done with the peppers wash your hands. It is all too easy to forget to do that and then, a while later you rub your eyes and wonder why they start stinging and watering and feeling generally unpleasant. You do it once and you probably won't forget again ...
Fry the chicken pieces in the peanut oil, add the green paste, add the coconut milk, the chicken stock and the additional cilantro and thai basil leaves. Let simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve with Basmati Rice or as Slater says, fragrant Thai Rice. A delight is this dish. Enjoy.