Sorry about the overuse of adjectives in the headline there, but since there's a pretty significant difference in style between the South Asian curries and most of the Southeast Asian Curries, I thought I'd clarify to make things easier on everyone.
For reference: Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani curries are often a bit thicker with almost a gravy-like consistency and frequently have tomato or onion based sauces. They can have meat, vegetables, fish, or cheese, and are flavored with a variety of spices depending on the region. Your typical example here is tikka masala, which (fun fact) was originally made with Campbell's tomato soup as a base. Gross huh?
I imagine that tikka masala is the big pot that all of the restaurant workers spit in out of disgust for the customers who order it. I think that every member of the food service industry hates one or two things on the menu and despise those who order them by extension. As a barrista at Borders, I would plead with people not to order the soup, which was often days old and not fit for consumption by thoughtful animals. If they insisted, I would punish them by giving them an extra large helping.
Southeastern Asian curries, on the other hand, are lighter, thinner, filled with vegetables and herbs and are usually based primarily around coconut milk. Thai, Filipino and Vietnamese curries fit into this category. The spicing for these curries is also usually a bit milder, though you can always add more interesting flavors if you feel the curry is lacking. Whereas an Indian curry powder might contain 15 ingredients, a Thai curry might only have two or three powders to augment the herbs and base ingredients. Our dear friend (and chef) Adam Shepard made us an amazing Thai curry when he was in town that we missed terribly, which led to today's batch. Although I prefer chicken and tofu in my panang curries, we had beef since I had it on hand.
Panang is a variety of red curry that uses galangal and lemongrass. Since I cannot get fresh galangal or lemongrass easily in Beirut (though the chef at the Jai kitchen swears it is occasionally sold in Dora) I substituted fresh ginger and bay leaves. It is freaking delicious though. There would have been pictures but we ate it immediately.
Curry Ingredients:
1/2 pound meat of some sort (or tofu)
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 red bell pepper
1 green onion
1 carrot, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
a handful of basil leaves
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 heaping tsp garam masala/curry powder
1/2 tbsp chili flakes or paprika
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp raw cane sugar
salt to taste
crushed salted peanuts and basil slivers to garnish
The Paste:
1 small-medium onion
4 garlic cloves, smashed into a paste
1 inch of gingerroot, peeled and finely shredded
2+ tbsp oil
Prep:
1. Slice your meat very thinly and brown on medium high heat in a pan with some oil and salt. Remove from the pan and reserve for later.
2. Slice the green onion basil, peppers and carrot. Put the carrot with the meat and the pepper, onion and basil on another plate. I slice the peppers into very thin inch long strips, which gives them a nice taste and texture, and slice the green onion at a 45 degree angle towards the root. to make the cut bits look like a pokey straw.
3. Make a paste from the ingredients listed above. A blender is really nice for this, (add oil to help it along, not water), but if your power is out while cooking, which is admittedly not likely outside of Lebanon, you can finely mince it and then mash it up with a mortar and pestle like I did.
4. Prepare your wet ingredients (coconut milk, fish sauce, peanut butter and the sugar) in a bowl and have it ready to dump in at a moment's notice.
5. If you're making rice, you may want to start it now.
6. Put the bay leaves and spices in a bowl and have them ready to dump in
7. Put the peanuts in a different bowl for similar purposes.
The Cooking:
1. Heat a deep flat pan on medium and add the paste, cooking for about a minute or two, at which point you add the spice bowl and continue stirring for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the wet ingredient bowl and scrape whatever sticks to it into the pan. Allow it to begin bubbling, then turn the heat to low and cover. You'll cook it like this for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the meat and carrot and cover, cooking for another 10 minutes.
4. Add the chopped vegetables, cover, and turn off the heat. I usually let it rest for a few minutes and then serve it up.
5. Serve in a bowl with a plate of rice on the side. Garnish with shreds of basil and peanuts.
6. AND VERY IMPORTANT. When you eat it, don't dump it all together for Christ's sake. (Tam loves to do this, which dismays me to no end). Use a spoon to dip up a bit of rice, then scoop the curry onto the spoon. This way you taste all of the flavors without the starch of the rice overwhelming things.
For reference: Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani curries are often a bit thicker with almost a gravy-like consistency and frequently have tomato or onion based sauces. They can have meat, vegetables, fish, or cheese, and are flavored with a variety of spices depending on the region. Your typical example here is tikka masala, which (fun fact) was originally made with Campbell's tomato soup as a base. Gross huh?
I imagine that tikka masala is the big pot that all of the restaurant workers spit in out of disgust for the customers who order it. I think that every member of the food service industry hates one or two things on the menu and despise those who order them by extension. As a barrista at Borders, I would plead with people not to order the soup, which was often days old and not fit for consumption by thoughtful animals. If they insisted, I would punish them by giving them an extra large helping.
Southeastern Asian curries, on the other hand, are lighter, thinner, filled with vegetables and herbs and are usually based primarily around coconut milk. Thai, Filipino and Vietnamese curries fit into this category. The spicing for these curries is also usually a bit milder, though you can always add more interesting flavors if you feel the curry is lacking. Whereas an Indian curry powder might contain 15 ingredients, a Thai curry might only have two or three powders to augment the herbs and base ingredients. Our dear friend (and chef) Adam Shepard made us an amazing Thai curry when he was in town that we missed terribly, which led to today's batch. Although I prefer chicken and tofu in my panang curries, we had beef since I had it on hand.
Panang is a variety of red curry that uses galangal and lemongrass. Since I cannot get fresh galangal or lemongrass easily in Beirut (though the chef at the Jai kitchen swears it is occasionally sold in Dora) I substituted fresh ginger and bay leaves. It is freaking delicious though. There would have been pictures but we ate it immediately.Curry Ingredients:
1/2 pound meat of some sort (or tofu)
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 red bell pepper
1 green onion
1 carrot, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
a handful of basil leaves
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 heaping tsp garam masala/curry powder
1/2 tbsp chili flakes or paprika
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp raw cane sugar
salt to taste
crushed salted peanuts and basil slivers to garnish
The Paste:
1 small-medium onion
4 garlic cloves, smashed into a paste
1 inch of gingerroot, peeled and finely shredded
2+ tbsp oil
Prep:
1. Slice your meat very thinly and brown on medium high heat in a pan with some oil and salt. Remove from the pan and reserve for later.
2. Slice the green onion basil, peppers and carrot. Put the carrot with the meat and the pepper, onion and basil on another plate. I slice the peppers into very thin inch long strips, which gives them a nice taste and texture, and slice the green onion at a 45 degree angle towards the root. to make the cut bits look like a pokey straw.
3. Make a paste from the ingredients listed above. A blender is really nice for this, (add oil to help it along, not water), but if your power is out while cooking, which is admittedly not likely outside of Lebanon, you can finely mince it and then mash it up with a mortar and pestle like I did.
4. Prepare your wet ingredients (coconut milk, fish sauce, peanut butter and the sugar) in a bowl and have it ready to dump in at a moment's notice.
5. If you're making rice, you may want to start it now.
6. Put the bay leaves and spices in a bowl and have them ready to dump in
7. Put the peanuts in a different bowl for similar purposes.
The Cooking:
1. Heat a deep flat pan on medium and add the paste, cooking for about a minute or two, at which point you add the spice bowl and continue stirring for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the wet ingredient bowl and scrape whatever sticks to it into the pan. Allow it to begin bubbling, then turn the heat to low and cover. You'll cook it like this for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the meat and carrot and cover, cooking for another 10 minutes.
4. Add the chopped vegetables, cover, and turn off the heat. I usually let it rest for a few minutes and then serve it up.
5. Serve in a bowl with a plate of rice on the side. Garnish with shreds of basil and peanuts.
6. AND VERY IMPORTANT. When you eat it, don't dump it all together for Christ's sake. (Tam loves to do this, which dismays me to no end). Use a spoon to dip up a bit of rice, then scoop the curry onto the spoon. This way you taste all of the flavors without the starch of the rice overwhelming things.
