Lunch - Thai food with the right heat

Today I made my own Thai curry with chicken ...

 If you know me, you know I am not only a big wimp when it comes to heat but I am allergic to MSG. It makes my Thai food experiences limited. 

Before I turned 26 I could eat anything, but food allergies reared their ugly heads and now I cannot. 

Thai food is amazing and I love the flavors, but it took me another 26 years to really try to make my own. 

For those die hard authentic Thai food fans, look away now. It's Amercanized to be sure. 

First I had to figure out what a curry was. 
Essentially it's peppers and spices, to put it simply. I found a recipe that I could modify (see modified recipe below) with what I had. I intend to add in the lemongrass paste and shrimp paste once I get some, next time, to see how it changes it. 

Thai chili peppers are pretty darn hot, so wimpy me will use bell peppers and then add in the heat with crushed red pepper flakes. 

No it won't taste the same but I want to have something like Thai food that I can eat without getting sick, or it being too hot for me. 

I had some chicken thighs that I chopped up and that worked well. To make this vegan, I would probably first deep fry tofu, and then add it in at the end. 

So I made the curry with my roasted green peppers, red onions, garlic, ketchup, ginger, salt, pepper, soy sauce, sugar, cumin, and some water to make it smooth. I didnt want to lug out the food processor for an experiment, so I used the blender. It's less forgiving when trying to make a paste. 

I tasted it, added more salt and pepper, and then when happy let it sit in the blender. 

Next I put oil, some thin cut onions, and garlic in the pan. Meanwhile, the last of the home grown garlic from my own garden needed to be used, so i chopped it up and put it in olive oil. I don't think it will last long but I am more likely to use it now that it's prepared. 

Once the  aromatics were cooked, I added the chopped chicken thighs and stirred until the chicken was no longer pink. Then I added mushrooms and cooked down, zucchini, and green pepper slices. 

It was time to add the paste (or really a sauce in my case). I added it from the blender and mixed, then added the remainder of the coconut milk. 

I put in a Tablespoon of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and some crushed red pepper. This is all really to taste. 

Lastly I finished it with a squeeze of a half a lime. 

This was mixed and simmered for 2 mins. Then I poured some curry over cooked basmati rice. 

Time to taste!

Yum. I love it. You can definitely taste the cumin in this. The heat is right on.  I will try it with lemon grass and shrimp paste, someday soon. 

The Recipe: (items in parenthesis are omitted today, but could be added and should be if you want it to taste more authentic. I'd replace the peppers with thai chilies) .

Thai Curry

Curry sauce; 

¼ c red onion, chopped (about half)

4 cloves garlic
½ tsp ground ginger

2 T ketchup

2 T Soy sauce

(3 T lemongrass paste)

(½ tsp cayenne)

3 T coconut milk full fat from 1 can coconut (used later)

(1 tsp shrimp paste)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cumin

(¾ tsp coriander) 

¼ tsp white pepper

3 roasted seeded and skinned green bell peppers (in place of thai chilis)

Salt and pepper to taste (about 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper)

water as needed to blend. 

Mix above in blender

—

Chicken Curry: 

¼ c sliced red onion

1 garlic clove

2 Tbsp olive oil

½ tsp ground  ginger

2 chicken thighs, chopped into 1 inch pieces

½ box sliced mushrooms

1 sliced zucchini or asian eggplant

Left over can of coconut milk from the curry sauce above

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

crushed red pepper to taste

½ lime juiced

Instructions: 

Start 1 cup basmati rice in 3 c boiling water. (Boil water first, then add rice, once cooked down turn off and cover to soften)

Cook sliced onion and garlic in oil, 30 seconds. Add ginger. 

Add chicken and stir, cook until no longer pink and it starts to bounce. 

Add mushrooms, green pepper and zucchini or eggplant. Cook until tender.

Add curry sauce from above

Stir and cook 2 mins. 

Add coconut milk , vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper and lime juice. 

Cook 2 mins. 

Serve over rice