Yellow Thai Curry with Vegetables

mayurisjikoni

7 years ago

EVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP
THEME: #195 THIRD LETTER MAGIC

My first taste of an absolutely tasty red Thai curry was in Bali when I visited it for the first time in 2017. The curry was served in a coconut shell. As I had complained that I was not able to taste a veggie version of the Thai cuisine, my hubby’s best friend and his wife who live in Bangkok made sure that I would not leave Thailand without tasting some good Thai curries. Just the night before we were to leave Bangkok, they treated us to a vegan restaurant called Veganerie at the Silom Complex.

While they didn’t want to eat Thai food, hubby and I ordered Thai curries. I ordered green Thai curry with aubergine and he ordered massaman curry with jackfruit. Both were served with black berry rice. I loved both the curries and was glad that I was not leaving Thailand without tasting the curries.

What is Black Berry Rice?

Not to be mistaken with Black Rice or Forbidden Rice, its known as rice berry, black jasmine or riceberry. It is a cross pollination between non glutinous black rice called Jai Hom Nin and the fragrant jasmine rice called Thai Hom Mali.

Thai Cuisine is all about food being served with rice or noodles with meat or seafood cooked in various sauces or pastes with a variety of vegetables, spices and herbs. It is believed that Thai food preparation demands attention to detail, texture, color, and taste.

During my travel to some parts of Thailand, I noticed that most of their food had either or both fish sauce and shrimp paste. Luckily I was able to enjoy a Som Tum Salad. If you want to know how to use raw papaya in your salad then check out Shobha’s Spicy Thai Green Papaya Salad.

Whenever we went to the night food markets, it was not difficult to find small crispy rice pancakes filled with coconut but you may want to check out Mireille’s more fluffy type of Thai pancake recipe called Peranakan Pancakes with Banana Sauce.

The other thing I noticed was many stalls had an extra chili relish called Nam Prik with was served with various dishes. However, if you really can’t take all that chilli hotness then why not make a simpler Thai Cucumber Relish like Priya had made. I didn’t come across many veggie Thai soups, as most had fish, all sorts of seafood, pig legs, and what not. However, Nayna has a wonderful Thai Tomato Soup recipe on her blog which I would love to try.

Thai curries as the westerners call them are different from the Indian curries. Thais called them kaeng (gaeng) and can range from watery broths to thick stews.

Red, Green and Yellow Thai Curries are well known world over. The name is derived from the ingredient used to make the pastes.

While the backbone for these curries are lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, chillis, shallots and garlic its a difference of one or two ingredients that makes the curries not only taste different from each other but also lends the characteristic colour to it.

Red bird’s eyes chillis dried or fresh are used to make the red curry paste and its the hottest. For green curry paste green chillis and Thai basil are used. For the yellow curry which is not too hot, turmeric is the star ingredient.

When Amrita who blogs at The Food Samaritan suggested Third Letter Magic as our #195th theme for FoodieMonday/Bloghop group, the group got a bit excited. What’s that all about? Well, you have to take the third letter of your name and make a dish beginning with that letter. Mine is Y and initially I thought I wouldn’t be able to make something appropriate with a dish beginning with Y. Yorkshire pudding, Yorkshire teacakes, yogurt parfaits, yogurt smoothies came to my mind. My son whom we’re spending some time with suggested yellow curry. So Yellow Thai Curry it is. I’m in the right place to try this exotic curry and with my son’s help to source the ingredients and helping me with all the chopping we made a flavorful vegetarian yellow Thai curry.

Most of the pastes contain fish sauce and shrimps. We just omitted both. I added salt while cooking the curry. If you want to store any of the curry pastes in the fridge for a couple of days then its best to add salt and more oil.

Once the paste is ready and the vegetables are all chopped, making the curry is very easy. I served it with some rice. You can add vegetables of your choice, add tofu, replace some of the vegetables with chicken or fish. This curry is so versatile.

YELLOW THAI CURRY WITH VEGETABLES

Serves 4

Vegetables;

2 cups mushrooms, cut into quarters

1 cup green brinjals, cut into quarters and soak in some water

1 big carrot, cut into slices

1 cup broccoli florets

½ cup snow peas cut into halves

3 spring onions, chopped

1 celery stalk and leaves, chopped

1 cup semi ripe mango cubes

1 long red chili, sliced

2-3 kaffir lime leaves, remove the stem and chop finely

1 cup yellow Thai curry paste

1½ – 2 cups water

1 cup coconut milk

2 tbsp oil/coconut oil

1 tsp salt

For the Yellow Paste:

3 tbsp oil/coconut oil

3-4 green chillis, chopped

5 – 6 inch lemongrass stalk, finely chopped

1 inch galangal, peeled and finely chopped

3 inch fresh turmeric, washed and chopped

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

4 small shallots, peeled and chopped

3-4 coriander roots and stalks, washed and chopped

5 kaffir lime leaves, remove the middle stalk and chop or tear

1 tsp cumin powder, freshly ground

1 tsp coriander powder, freshly ground

Preparation of the Yellow Curry Paste:

Put all the ingredients for the paste into a blender or food processor.
Blend or process it into a smooth paste.
Remove it from the food processor or blender jug and store in a jar.

Preparation of the Yellow Thai Curry:

Remove the brinjals from the water.
Heat oil in a wide pan or a wok over medium heat.
Add the yellow curry paste and stir fry for 1-2 minutes stirring all the time till you get a pleasant aroma.
Add all the vegetables, red chili, kaffir lime leaves, except the spring onions and mix it well with the paste.
Add salt and mix well.
Add water and let the curry simmer over low to medium heat till the vegetables are cooked. Don’t overcook the vegetables.
Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chopped spring onion and mix well.
Serve hot yellow Thai curry with some cooked rice.

Tips:

Use vegetables of your choice like bell peppers, zucchini, beans.
As we added the raw mango to the curry, we did not need to add lime juice. If you omit the mango then add some lime juice for a slight tangy taste.
Use turmeric powder (about ½ tsp if you don’t get fresh turmeric).
Add tofu if you like.

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