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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