curry leaves

Thai Green Curry

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Thai Green Curry

I have always wanted to learn how to make Thai Green Curry, and chanced upon a healthy cooking workshop at one of those Residents Committee places. They were demonstrating how to cook a healthier version of Thai Green Curry, and while watching them demonstrating it, I thought to myself that the healthier version actually looked quite oily in reality.

Anyway, I was there to observe, so no comments. Like I always say, if I wanted to say anything, I will only make comments on my own cooking. It looked fairly easy enough. And surprisingly, the results were really yummy when I cooked it. I used fresh Chicken Drumsticks as the meat was usually more tender and juicy. I think the meat from chicken breasts would be too dry or tough if not cooked properly, and not as yummy as the chicken drumstick meat. For my version I added a little more colour in terms of the vegetables used, yellow and red capsicum, carrots and long beans, and instead of the recommended high calcium milk, I used packet Coconut Cream (more lemak, more nice).

The key ingredient is of course the Thai Green Curry paste, I decided to get a pre-mix version from NTUC called “Dancing Chef”, and it was really nice. Of course, you can make everything from scratch if you wanted to.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Chicken Drumsticks with Adjoined Thigh (Chopped into small pieces and marinate with Light Soya Sauce and White Pepper)
1 packet of “Dancing Chef” brand Thai Green Curry paste
3 cloves of Garlic (Chopped finely)
1 medium Yellow Onion (Chopped finely)
3 sprigs of Curry Leaves (Use only the leaves)
3 stalks of Long Beans (Chopped into 3 cm pieces)
Half of a Carrot (Chopped into bite-sized pieces)
Half of a Yellow Capsicum (Chopped into small pieces)
Half of a Red Capsicum (Chopped into small pieces)
1 small packet of Kara Coconut Cream
2 cups of Water
2 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1/2 tsp White Pepper
Drizzle of Thai Fish Sauce (Optional)

Method

1. Chop the chicken thigh into bite size pieces and marinate with light soya sauce and white pepper for about 5-10 minutes.

2. Add 1 packet of the Thai Green Curry paste into a wok and fry at medium heat. There is no need to add additional oil as there is already oil in the packet (The paste can be quite spicy, so no need to add additional chilli). Add the chopped garlic and onions and fry together with the paste (Actually the paste is made up of these ingredients, I just added more so that it is not so spicy).

3. Add the Curry Leaves into the paste to fry, this will make the Thai Green Curry paste more fragrant (See picture below). Add the marinated chicken pieces to fry. Fry at medium heat for about 5 minutes. After that, add the chopped capsicum (both red and yellow), long beans and carrots. Continue to stir fry, this time around, turn the heat up to high.

4. Add the Kara coconut cream and add water. Give it a good stir. Do a taste test. If it is okay, then there is no need to add more flavouring. But if it is not tasty enough, then add a drizzle of Thai Fish Sauce. Cover the lid and let it boil for about 8 minutes or until it is bubbling. Do another taste test, it should be tasty and full of flavour with the coconut milk, the chicken pieces should be juicy and succulent. Then it is ready. Serve with steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

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Salted Egg Cereal Prawns

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Salted Egg Cereal Prawns

Got a day off today and I went to the supermarket and saw some really nice grey prawns. They were of reasonable size and I thought it would be perfect if I made Salted Egg Cereal Prawns.

My wife wanted me to make her favourite Garlic Tomato Prawns for dinner but I decided that I would try out something different and technically a little more demanding. I always like a little challenge in my cooking.

So I turned on my favourite techno house music and started preparing for dinner. I purposely kept the prawns cold in the fridge until it was time to cook because I saw on tv some tempura chef mentioned that the prawns need to be chilled just before deep frying them. Besides that, everything else is standard in my opinion.

Recipe

Ingredients

12 Grey Prawns (refrigerate the prawns until just before cooking)
1 packet of crispy Cereal (I bought the A1 brand at NTUC and it’s very convenient to use, you may also consider the classic Quaker Oatmeal if you like that.)
4 Salted Eggs
3 sprigs of Curry Leaves (in reality there is a lot of wastage, NTUC doesn’t sell 3 sprigs of curry leaves)
30 grams of Unsalted Butter
4 tbsp Corn Starch
2 Eggs (chicken eggs)
1 tsp Chicken Stock powder
A sprinkle of White Pepper powder
Olive Oil (for deep frying)

Method

1. Take the prawns out of the fridge and de-shell them leaving only the heads and tail (as the saying goes in hokkien, woo-tau-woo-buay lit. in mandarin 有头有尾). By now you would have cracked the two eggs into a bowl with the chicken stock and white pepper and given it a good mix.

2. In another plate, the corn starch is spread out and ready to go. Heat the oil in the wok and get it ready for deep frying. Using a pair of chopsticks, pick up the prawns dip in egg batter, then in corn starch coating and then into the hot oil.

3. You generally want to give the prawns a good fry of about 15 seconds. So you got to moderate an assembly line. 1st prawn goes in, then you prepare the next prawn, turn the prawn in the wok when you place the next prawn in and the third prawn is being dipped in batter.

4. Once the prawns have had 15 seconds of oil. Drop them into a strainer. Once all the prawns are cooked, turn off the fire and dip them into the hot oil all at once. Then strain them again.

5. Prepare the salted eggs (it would be good to cook them way before you even take the prawns out of the fridge). Salted Eggs are not cooked and are raw. So you got to factor that into your cooking time. Extract the yolks and you can use the whites for porridge.

6. In a clean wok, melt the butter. Be careful not to burn the butter. Add the salted egg yolks to cook. Using your frying paddle to mesh the yolks into the butter. This forms your sauce. Add the curry leaves at this point and the packet of crispy Cereal flakes. You can use whatever cereal flake you like, it doesn’t really matter.

7. Moderate the heat and stir quickly so that the butter doesn’t become clumpy. Immediately add the prawns into the wok and stir vigorously to coat the prawns with the cereal flakes.

8. Once prawns are all more or less coated with the cereal flakes. You may serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!

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Certified shiok!

Mdm Nair’s Fish Curry

 

Ho Sim Lang

 

Mrs Nair’s Fish Curry

My romance with Indian food is like an endless bollywood dance. One day, when I have my own food travel show, I will visit India. Maybe my first stop in India would be Kerala. I heard that it is the place for all kinds of spices, kind of like a spice garden. It is like spice capital of India where traders from all around would gather and peddle their wares. I can imagine the marketplace to be perfumed with the scent of exotic spices.

But for now, I will just have to be content with what I smell at the Mama store, or the supermarket.

Anyway, I said all that to say that I love fish curry. The best fish curry in my humble opinion is the one that my friend Mdm Nair taught me. I still remember that Saturday morning in a crowded room with neighbourhood aunties and maids, she revealed her recipe for greatness. The fish curry was fabulous. Since those early days, I have been making Mdm Nair’s Fish Curry much to the delight of my Indian friends who tasted it. They say that it has a very Indian taste, whatever that means.

Where to shop?

The Mama’s Store has everything. The spices, the vegetables, everything is there except for the fish. As for the fish, you can get it at the wet market, or supermarket.

Recipe

Ingredients

Whole Fish (Angoli) 1 pc, 1 kg – (or you can use stingray, I prefer that.)

Red Chilli Paste  3 tbsp

Fish Masala Powder (Baba’s Brand) 6 tbsp

Mixed Spices (Brarath Brand) 2 tbsp

Ladies Fingers 10 pcs

Beef Tomatoes 4 pcs

Onions (sliced) 2 bulbs

Garlic (sliced) 4 bulbs

Fresh Green Chilli (sliced, seeds out) 1 pc

Tomato Puree (Gilda Brand) 1 can

Tamarind (Assam) 1 packet – (you can now get a smaller packet size, in which case it will be the whole portion.)

Carnation Milk 1 can – (I don’t really use that, so that’s optional.)

Curry Leaves 1 sprig

Salt

Oil

To Marinate:

1. Salt the fish for at least half an hour. Then wash and cut the fish into pieces. Mixed 03 tablespoons (tbsp) red chilli paste and 02 tbsp fish masala powder. Add a bit of salt and mixed with fish.

2. Take half packet of the tamarind and soak in half a bowl (5 cups) of water for half an hour.

3. Strain the tamarind and throw away the seeds. Put the tamarind water in a bowl and add 04 tbsp of fish masala powder, 03 garlic and 01 fresh green chilli and a bit of salt and stir.

Method:

1. Heat up the pan with oil. Fry ladies fingers till light brown and keep aside. Add mixed spices (02 tbsp), onions (chopped), 1 garlic (sliced), curry leaves till light brown and add tomatoes and fry till tomatoes are soft. Add the tamarind water with masala together with the earlier ingredients and stir. Close the lid until it boils.

2. Add ladies fingers, 1 tbsp of tomato puree and fish. Then add carnation milk (to thicken the curry). Leave for 5 minutes. Serve with white rice or Korean Instant Noodles.

Bon Appetit!