Fresh Green Curry

We got this great curry cookbook by Nancie McDermott over the holidays. So many of the recipes sound so yummy, and this week we tried the fresh green curry. I did make some changes to the recipe, and it turned out delicious. More importantly I conquered my fear of cooking with fish sauce! I know it’s strange for someone who loves Thai food to hate fish sauce. It’s not that I hate fish sauce per se, in fact I don’t have a problem eating dishes with fish sauce at Thai restaurants. The operative phrase is AT the restaurant. In the past when I’ve used the fish sauce, it’s made the whole house smell, and for someone with an sensitive sense of smell, that’s not a good smell. Anyway, I decided to buy the Thai Kitchen variety instead of one of the Asian varieties found at the Asian grocer. Much to my surprise no smell! Maybe the Asian store variety one I had before was just super strong.

I added chicken to the recipe, but you can add beef, tofu, or just keep it veggies.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken, cut into strips
• 1 lb. new potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped (I used green pepper because red peppers were $2.38 each)
• 1 shallot
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 inch piece of ginger
• 1 serrano chili
• 3 TBSP water plus 1 c.
• 3/4 c. cilantro leaves, divided
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 TBSP brown sugar
• 2 TBSP fish sauce
• 1/4 basil, chiffonade

Directions:

1. Heat nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and saute until nearly cooked through. Remove chicken from pan.
2. Meanwhile combine the shallots, garlic ginger, serrano, 3 TBSP water, and 1/2 c. cliantro in a food processor and pulse until smooth paste.
3. After chicken is removed from pan, add coconut milk, green curry paste, 1 c. water, brown sugar, and fish sauce, and bring sauce up to a simmer. Add chicken, potatoes, and eggplant. Bring to a boil then add the red pepper and simmer for 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. The eggplant starts to break down and thicken the sauce as well.
4. Garnish with remaining cilantro and basil.
5. Serve over rice.

Fresh Green Curry: