Cooking with Dr. Monkey

Today's episode: Green Thai Curry!

The origin of my version of green Thai curry comes from a recipe that I got out of a Thai cookbook. I modified it to fit our taste buds after making it the way the recipe called for the first time and I'll explain why I make this modified version as we go through the steps.

First up I roughly chopped up about a cup and a half of cilantro, both stems and leaves, six green Serrano chili peppers that I had already de-seeded and de-ribbed, a small onion (usually I use shallots but since I had small onions I used one of those instead), and three big cloves of garlic. I then put all this stuff in my food processor.

Next I added to the mixture in the food processor about a tablespoon of black pepper, a table spoon of soy sauce, a table spoon of Thai Fish Sauce, the zest and juice of one lime, and about a quarter cup of oyster sauce. Genuine green Thai curry recipes call for using fermented shrimp paste and I used it once. The odor of it nearly knocks me over, it's the only food product that I could smell through a thick plastic tupperware like container. After I used it once I tossed the rest of it away so I would not get sick from the odor of it and now I use oyster sauce in it's place. Also lime leaves are used in authentic green Thai curry but since I can't get them here I use lime zest and the juice from a lime.
Finally I put in two table spoons of brown sugar and some chopped fresh ginger. I also added about a third of a cup of water and then I turned on the processor and let it do it's thing.

After a minute or two I was confident that everything was chopped up and mixed together. I poured my mixture out of the processor bowl and into a stainless steel bowl that has a lid. I tasted my curry base and it was a bit hot even for me so I added a tablespoon of organic sugar to lessen the heat. I then chopped up two boneless skinless chicken thighs, you can use chicken breasts or any part of the chicken you like for that matter or even pork or beef if you like and you vegetarians can use mushrooms or squash, and I put the lid on it and I shook everything together to mix it all around.

Later for supper we'll have this with over stir fried vegetables (sliced red and orange bell peppers, sliced celery, and sliced green beans) and jasmine rice. Of course you can have whatever veggies you like with yours and you can also have this with Asian noodles as well.

Thanks for tuning in and we now return you to your regular blog.