Thai Recipes: Thai Red Curry A Favorite Chicken Curry Recipe

Thai Recipes: Thai Red Curry

 

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This week the weather here in Vegas turned cold again as the weather patterns across much of the country seem to be a bit out of whack. I was going to make a summery cool salad this week but because of the high winds 50mph and rain it got cold so I wanted to eat something hot and comforting. I went looking around my fridge and found a jar of Thai red curry! As many of you know I LOVE Thai food. If you have seen my video called "Tag Your It" on Youtube then you know that my fridge is LOADED with things like chicken and shrimp. So there it was! Thai red curry in the making using chicken and fish as the protein component. I LOVE curries in just about any form I can get them and Thai red curry is no different it is one of my favorite Thai recipes when I go out to eat.  It's truly a fave dish in restaurants all over the place and the paste is made of so many delicious herbs and spices. Most people are familiar with Indian curries being made of things like mustard seed, tumeric, coriander, black pepper, masala powder etc. I love the South East Asian flavors of Thai red curry. Generally speaking Thai red curry is made of ingredients like Thai chilies(of course!), garlic, lemongrass, galangal, shallots, cilantro, kaffir lime leaves(Oh those are so hard to get at the Asian market cuz the restaurants snag em all!),cilantro, and shrimp paste. Now we are cooking! For anyone who has never had Thai red curry................You are in for a big fragrant and delicious treat! This is one dish I love to make because in under an hour it's gonna be BANG! ZOOM! Time to eat a great chicken curry recipe!

Asia is a BIG place and there is curry all over Asia. Funny how many forms curries can come in but for the most part curry is a stew like dish whether it is thick or thin in nature. The herb and spice combinations uses to make Thai recipes and the curries used are endless. Most people and myself included consider curry to be native to India as most of us who have had curry have had curry in the form of Indian dishes. The basic recipe and method of making and cooking curry was brought to South East Asia by the people of India who immigrated to the south. In Thailand they have taken that ancient knowledge and made curry in their own form and image with a myriad of Thai recipes that are delicious and pleasing and isn't that what food is all about? Find a recipe, Thai recipes  or any recipe for that matter and make it your own. The people of Thailand have done an excellent job of that when it comes to the various forms of curry in Thailand and the myriad list of Thai recipes that use curry of different types. If you are a curry lover then you could never get bored eating in Thailand!

Curry in Thailand is made one of two ways and that is with water or coconut milk and the addition of the curry paste itself. Other things are added to the dish along the way of course like meat, seafood, veggies! Just about anything you can think of can be made in Thai curry. The versions of curry from India are generally thicker than the Thai curry dishes which are a bit more liquid in nature. Don't get me wrong though, even though Thai recipes for curries are a bit soupier than Indian curries they are rich because of the pastes used. Just like hamburgers are a staple of American life the curries of Thailand are a staple dish of that country. Thai recipes in any form are a healthy dish that are an excellent combo of protein and vitamins like vitamin C. Curries whether they are Indian or Thai are really easy to digest to because they are made of so many digestive herbs and spices. Thai red curry is a great comfort food and healthy to!

In Thailand curry is referred to as "Gaeng Phet." Gaeng means a liquid base that refers to soups as well as curries. Phet refers to HOT! I mean really HOT! I come to find out that when it comes to curries that the water based curries of Thailand are grouped together with soups and that's because not all varieties of "gaeng" are going to be spicy. The mild gaeng refers to soups that have clear broths and are called "Gaeng Joot." Hence water based curries.

Here in the United States we are more familiar with the coconut based curries that we find in our Thai restaurants like Thai red curry. There are many, many varieties of coconut based Thai curries out there and of course these curries are the thicker of the two kinds found in Thailand. Some examples would be Thai red curry or "gaeng phet" or "gaeng Kiow Wahn" for Thai green curry and for Thai yellow curry that is called "gaeng leuang." There is a really interesting factoid about Thai curry recipes and Thai curry pastes and that little factoid is this: Thai green curry(gaeng kiow wahn) is made with fresh green Thai chilies and is the only one in Thai culinary practice that is, the rest of the curry pastes are made of Thai chilies that have been dried first! I find that interesting and I am sure there is a difference in the flavors of the paste because of it! There are also other varieties of Thai curry called panang and masamam and others. I could write a tome for all the different types of curries there are in Thailand but alas I only have this one blogpost.......for now! So go ahead and check out this video on how to make Thai red curry! It's one of my favorite Thai Recipes and a terrific chicken curry recipe to boot! Enjoy!

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Chicken Adobo: My Chicken Adobo Recipe

Chicken Adobo

 

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Hi everyone! This week I am making Chicken Adobo and let me tell you why! Here we go! I was thinking about what I was going to cook this week for my Youtube channel video as sometimes with writing you get writers block and sometimes with cooking you get cooks or foodie block. Well let me tell you that when you write as well as cook those blocks can be like boulders. I was at work and the week was coming to an end and I was kinda stressing out! I was actually thinking about taking the week off again but decided against that. This last week on March 2nd my Youtube channel turned 1yrs old. On the 10th of March my blog here turned 1yrs old. I just want to thank everyone who has every come to my blog and I want to thank all of my subs and contacts  at Youtube I really appreciate having all of you in my life and making this last year a whole lot of fun for me and making my life so much more creative and productive that I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart!  So needless to say I was not going to take the week off and party hard.

The Gods must have been smiling upon me on one side and laughing their asses off on the other side. I say this because I got a visit from an old friend and it was this visit that helped me decide what I was going to cook this week. It was Friday and the door to the cutlery shop opens at about 3:30pm. In walks this guy I have known for the last 14yrs. Pabzz. Well, his real name is Lino but everyone calls him Pabzz. I see Lino about once a year he comes up from Fresno, CA and buys knives from me. Lino is Filipino and he and I are involved in a martial art called Kali Escrima! I have been into this art since 1996 and Lino even longer. Knives are a big part of Kali.

Usually Lino calls a week or so in advance to let me know he is coming to town but this time......no call! He walks in the door I see him and go to greet him. A quick "man hug" and a strong handshake and BAM! Just like old times. Not two seconds after that he says to me, "Hey man! I didn't know you were on Youtube!" I didn't know what to say. I told him that we only see each other once a year so I will tell you now. He said you could have called or emailed me you MF'er (I think you get the idea!) "I'm sorry Mano!" I tell him. "Man! You ain't got no Filipino food in your videos!" Oh Boy! I could see the shitstorm coming from a mile away on this one!

"I just haven't gotten to it yet Mano! Sorry! "Dude, you got Korean food, Japanese food and you even made Vietnamese food but you got no Filipino food man! You just ain't doing us right you know what I'm saying?" I apologized again and said, "Mano! Let's not get down to knuckles over this man!" "I'll tell you what! I make some Filipino food this week OK Mano? I'll make some Chicken Adobo will that do it for you Mano?" Lino was like, "OK Dude, but you better or you and me are getting down to the sticks!" I assured him that I would make it and we talked about how to make it because I only had a cursory knowledge of it. So he told me what I needed to get to make Chicken Adobo and my recipe for the week was decided right then and there!

I have added a couple of little tweaks that are not in standard straightforward Chicken Adobo but all in all it is a lovely and delicious dish! The fact of the matter is that every family in the Philippines has their own way of making Chicken Adobo. Like Lino had told me in Hawaii the Filipinos add sugar to the Chicken Adobo and if you add a star anise you will spice up your Chicken Adobo and give it a Chinese flavor. You can add onions to Chicken Adobo as I did and you can add potatoes to it at the end. Chicken Adobo is a very versatile dish in the fact that chicken stew is made all over the world and because of that each country can take from another to make a wonderful Chicken Adobo or chicken stew.  So check out my video and enjoy!

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Lasagna: Beef And Spinach An Easy Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna

 

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This last week after I made Korean pajeon I was kind of in a funk about what to cook this coming week for my readers and youtube subbies! I was talking to my brother on the phone about it and he finally said to me, "Hey! why don't you make a lasagna?" I gave it some thought and decided to do it! I LOVE lasagna! Who doesn't? So the next thing I thought about was what kind of lasagna did I want to make? I mean I could have just made a run of the mill meat sauce and cheese lasagna recipe but I thought to myself "Nah!"

If I was going my make a lasagna I would at least want to make a lasagna recipe that was a bit more than just your plain meat sauce and cheese lasagna. There was no way I was going to make a lasagna recipe using cottage cheese! To me that just is not a lasagna in the true sense! If I was going to make a lasagna it was going to be with 100% whole milk ricotta the way Mama used to make it! It was going to have whole milk Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and be delicious!

So I decided to make a beef and spinach lasagna recipe with a homemade sauce and lots of good stuff in it. Now I know that everyone out there probably has their favorite lasagna from a home lasagna recipe or a favorite restaurant they go to but I am only offering this beef and spinach lasagna recipe as a simple and EZ lasagna that anyone can make at home. I am not going to say that this is the "worlds best lasagna!" Everyone else has done that one to death! My lasagna is just a rib sticking ooey, gooey, cheesy and flavorful lasagna! The best part of this or any lasagna is that the appeal to making one is that the ingredients used in the lasagna recipe are totally basic ingredients that you can get in any market in Anywhereville U.S.A!

You don't need to go hunting for fresh organic basil leaves or some kind of fancy schmancy mozzarella that some people call "buffalo." You don't need to go to an Italian grocer for handmade sausage from Italy or buy a chunk of Grana Padana! This lasagna recipe can be made in your home anytime and it is one of the easiest comfort foods around! I have made many lasagna's in my life for all kinds of people and all kinds of events and not matter what type of lasagna I make the look on the faces of the people that eat is tells me all that I need to know! They love it! So lets make a beef and spinach lasagna! Enjoy the video!

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