Some of you may be thinking, "Oh, no. Elyssa's going to start posting old pictures of herself."
Never fear- I will explain and no, I will not be posting old pictures of myself (I have a whole facebook album dedicated to that).
#tbt stands for: "hash-tag throwback thursday"- a trend on twitter and instagram where you post older pictures of yourself or something you find or a picture you took a long time ago. Google it if you are further curious.
But last Friday morning as I was looking over my social media, I came across a few #tbt's (as I am at least 6 hours ahead of most of the people I follow- Thursday had just ended in America) and thought:
"Hey, I have a lot of old recipe's that I used to make that I could post and look back at as well as add pointers or twists that I have learned since being in culinary school!"
So, now, this Thursday, I am starting the very first segment of #tbt on Beaucoup Cook-oo blog.
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Today's recipe is a Thai Curry Dish that I adopted from a restaurant in Athens, Doc Chey's (it may have been a chain, I'm not sure) that used to serve fast-ish Asian fusion. When they first opened, it was great then after a few years it went down hill and now it is closed. But, one of the first times I went there, I had this Red Curry dish and I loved it and knew that I needed to try and make it at home.
This is what I came up with in my adaption (my new pointers are in red) . This recipe was a great one in college because it is so easy and there are lots of veggie options depending on what's available or in season.
Thai Curry Dish
Ingredients
8 servings
2 Tbs. packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbs. rice vinegar or any vinegar on hand (cider
wine works)
1 Tbs. tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
then halved
1 can coconut milk
2.5 Tbs. red Thai curry paste
1 large onion (or 2 small), chopped
1-2 medium eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
handful of rough chopped basil
OPTIONAL:
Green beans or oriental long beans (rough chop)
4 small red potatoes, skinned and chopped into
1-inch cubes
Any other vegetable you may want to throw in
12-oz. pkg. extra-firm tofu—if using look at
bottom of recipe
Directions
1. Cut all vegetables needed. If putting
in tofu, prepare - Also make sure to wash all vegetables. You may also want to skin the red pepper (apparently it is hard to digest the skin?). You can easily do this by cutting the pepper in half and then running your vegetable peeler over the outside skin.
2.
shake and Pour 1/2 of 1 can of coconut milk into large saucepan and bring to a
simmer over medium heat.
3.
Whisk in curry paste until well blended. It's important to whisk (and use a whisk) and not stir. It will be a milky red color at this point- you may want to add more curry for a spicier dish, less for a more milder one
4.
Add onion, eggplant and bell pepper, *some basil (you want the basil for some flavor, but it will wilt in the cooking and be ugly so do not put too much in- you can save the extra for garnish), potatoes, and any other vegetable
5. Fold (going along edge and folding in) in the vegetables well with rubber spatula (to prevent
breaking tender eggplant during cooking) and scraping bottom of pan. It will be
very full and look like it might not all get cooked…it will cook down. Don’t
worry. Don't season yet- wait until it has cooked down some more and after step 6)
6. Fill
the half can of coconut milk to top with water
7.
Add remaining can of coconut milk, sugar, vinegar, tamari and salt, stirring with
spatula to mix well.
8.
Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer,
stirring occasionally, 20-25 minutes. *If put in potatoes check to make sure
that they are cooked before taking off of fire. You do this by sticking a knife into them- it the knife goes in easily and you can pull it out easily, then they are done. If you cook them too long, they will break apart and lose their texture.
9. IF
PUTTING IN TOFU: Add to curry mixture, stirring with spatula to mix. Cook until
heated through, about 5 minutes. So at minute 15 or 20 of your simmering time.
TOFU: Wrap tofu in several layers of paper towels. Place in colander in sink. Set plate on top of wrapped tofu, then weigh down with large, heavy can (such as a can of tomatoes). Let stand at least 20 minutes. Unwrap tofu and cut into bite-size cubes.
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More tips:
1. I never did this before, but one thing that I would like to try now, would be to blanch any green vegetable that I would use so that I would keep it's color in the cooking.
2. Another thing I never did, but might now try would be to strain the sauce after the vegetables have cooked (minute 20-ish). Bring it to boil in a separate pan, skim the fat and any impurity, and then serve separately.
3. For plating: You can do this family style with big bowls of the curry and some rice. If you do personal plates, I may dome rice (by wetting a small ladle), place the vegetables around or near the rice then spread some sauce around.
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