Thai Chicken Curry?

 

Mom, what are we having for dinner? That's a question I ask just about everyday when I'm home from school. I would say 85% of the time I get "chicken" as an answer. This usually means grilled chicken breasts or chicken fajitas, but not today! I have been wanting to make thai food ever since the only thai restaurant in my town closed a couple weeks ago. I've also been eyeing all the fresh basil I've got growing. So, tonight was the night for thai.

I had originally wanted to make a thai green curry. Take a look at the picture above and you can probably figure that didn't work out (it isn't green!). Needless to say, I ran into a few roadblocks. I went to the store to grab a couple things I didn't have on hand. Green curry paste, all sold out... Well this wasn't that big of a deal, they had two rows of red curry paste right next to it. People in this town should diversify a little. So, thai red curry it was going to be. I just needed fish sauce. All sold out. Well here I panicked a little. Fish sauce isn't so easy to replace, nothing else tastes like fermented fish juices. First, my mind jumped to anchovies. I struck that out of my mind pretty quick because if I told anyone in my family there were anchovies in something they would declare it inedible before even trying it. I was to far into this to change the menu though, so I started scanning the condiments. Soy sauce, no, hoisin, no, oyster sauce, well... They don't taste at all alike but they both come from the ocean, so what the hell.

So what we have here is something kinda like a thai red chicken curry. Luckily, it was really good! My sister even said, "it's okay." That's onpar with a michelin star in my book, she is the pickiest eater ever and usually refuses to try anything new. She did tell me, "don't start making it everyday." Don't worry, I won't.

Thai Red Chicken Curry
adapted from bon appetit magazine
takes about 25-30 minutes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (don't use olive oil)
3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
2-3 teaspoons oyster sauce (adjust to taste)
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 sliced hot chili
1/4 cup fresh basil and a little extra for garnish, chiffonaded
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for garnish

Heat oil in large wok or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, bell pepper, most of the hot chili and curry paste; stir until softened, about 3 minutes. Add coconut milk and oyster sauce, bring to a boil. Add chicken and stir until just cooked through. Stir in basil and lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve curry in bowls garnished with some more basil, hot chili slices and a wedge of lime for squeezing. I served this with white rice on the side for sopping up the broth.

Notes

1. I used a long hot chili for this, it was red and was about as spicy as a jalapeno. The curry paste itself is not really spicy. Peppers and chilis are spicy because they contain a compound known as capsaicin, which basically binds to pain receptors. Capsaicin is not water soluble, which is why water doesn't really help when your mouth is burning, they are fat soluble. Thai coconut-based curries are generally the the milder form of thai curry because the fat in the coconut milk binds to, and removes, the capsaicin in chilis.

2. I would not use olive oil in this dish, it has a low smoke point and may get a burnt taste at the high heat.

3. Much of this recipe is season to taste. I ended up adding a little more basil and lime juice. I also like my food spicy so I added a lot of chili. You can adjust all these things to your own taste. Also, coconut milk is pretty bland. I tasted this before adding the basil, lime, salt and pepper and it was incredibly bland. As soon as the salt was added it enhanced all the other flavors. So don't panic before everything is in the pot.

4. Chiffonade is when you layer a few leaves ontop of each other, roll them into a tight cigar shape, and slice across thinly. It produces long, thin strips. I did it this way so the green basil would be in strips like the bell pepper and scallions.

Delicious Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb and strawberries are two foods which just scream summer for me. You haven't had a strawberry if you haven't had an inseason upstate New York berry. Those things you can buy year round in the supermarket are not strawberries, they are something flavorless and sad. And let me say that if you have never had rhubarb, you are missing out. This is one of my all time favorite flavors but it is hard to describe, which is probably why I like it so much. When you eat it you get tartness right away, but that is followed by a completely unique flavor that you just have to try.

Rhubarb is a vegetable (no matter what the US courts say) which originated in China. Traders and explorers brought it to different parts of Europe where it eventually found its way to the US, where it was quite popular. It is unfortunate because it seems rhubarb is no longer very popular among young people. Most people I know either haven't heard of it or have never eaten it. I have only seen it in the supermarket a handful of times, usually when they have local farm-direct produce. The thing is, it is so easy to grow! Stick it in a box in the garden and it comes back every year. We never weed or water ours and it is always fine. It is the first thing ready to harvest in the spring and if you don't pick too much at once it will last all summer.

Delicious Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Crust

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

5 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling

1 cup sugar (I like mine a little more tart, add another 1/4 cup if you'd like)

1/4 cup tapioca (I think)

1/3 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 in. pieces

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled

1/2 a fresh lemon, squeezed

First make the crust. Mix the flour and salt in a food processor and then add the shortening and pulse until the mixure looks like crumbs. Add a tablespoon of the ice water and pulse a couple times. Add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough just comes together between your fingers. Divide the dough in two pieces, one just a little smaller than the other. Shape into discs and refrigerate for at least an hour (or overnight).

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Make the filling by mixing the tapioca, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice.

Lightly flour a flat surface and roll out the larger pastry disc to approx. 1/8 of an inch thick. Handle and roll the dough as little as possible! And do not roll out more than once because it will get tough. Put the rolled out dough in a 9 inch pie pan and trim the edges to a 1 inch overhang.

This is where I prebaked my crust for 5 minutes. However, doing this will make it difficult to crimp the edges with the top crust and make it all pretty. I did it anyway because I don't really care about crimping and I don't like soggy crust. Since this isn't a custard filling, it isn't entirely necessary to prebake, so do whatever you feel like.

Spoon the filling into your crust and roll out the remaining dough to approx. 1/8 inch thick. Lay ontop of the filling and crimp the two together the best you can. I like to sprinkle a little sugar ontop of my crust so it carmelizes in the oven, but don't put a lot.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 45-50 minutes until golden and delicious. Let cool completely and serve with some fresh berries and ice cream.

Notes:

In the recipe I said I was not sure how much tapioca to put in. Use whatever it says on the back of the tapioca box. I ran out and threw the box away, so I don't remember exactly.

Don't eat rhubarb leaves, they are mildly poisonous!

Chicken and Corn Burritos with Poblano Peppers

I absolutely love peppers. They are one of my favorite ingredients and I especially like poblanos. The poblano is a dark green pepper from Mexico which has a waxy skin and a mild heat. You may know them from Mexican Moles or Chili Rellenos. The flavor of a poblano is deep and earthy/fruity. I know that doesn't really make sense but the flavor is hard to explain, I'll just say they are really good. This is a very quick and easy texmex dish which features the poblano.

Also, please forgive my pictures. I am amazed at how awesome the pictures are on some blogs. I'm not much of a photographer, but I promise I'm working on it.

Chicken and Corn Burritos with Poblano Peppers

adapted from bon appetit magazine
takes about 30 minutes

3 tablespoons safflower oil

3 poblanos, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 3/4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 3/4 teaspoons chili powder

3/4 cup homemade or store-bought red taco sauce

2 cups cooked corn kernels

6 burrito-size flour tortillas

Grated Mexican cheese blend or queso fresco

Chopped fresh cilantro

The original recipe called for the poblanos to be added without being roasted. I think this would have been a mistake because of the waxy, tough skin on the pepper. Whenever I use poblanos I always roast and peel them. Not only does this remove the waxy skin, but it intensifies the flavor of the pepper. If you have never roasted a pepper before, it is simple. Rub the peppers with some oil and place on a hot grill or underneath the broiler. Rotate the peppers until all the skin is black and blistered.

After the peppers have been blackened, remove from grill, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This will steam the pepper, allowing it to finish cooking and loosen the skin. After the peppers have sat for 10-15 minutes, remove them and pull the skin off. Finally, remove the stem and seeds and chop the meat of the pepper.

Place the oil in a large pan and add onion, cook until softened. Add the chopped poblanos, chicken, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the chicken until almost cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Add the taco sauce and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the corn and heat through. Adjust your seasonings and remove from the heat.

Heat your tortilla on the burner or in the microwave to make it nice and pliable. Add the chicken mixture, cheese and chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

A couple things:

1. When I made this I scaled down the recipe a little and only used two poblanos. Their flavor was slightly lost in the dish and I think it would have been much better if I had used another pepper. For the full recipe I think four poblanos would be fine to use.

2. I used my favorite jarred taco sauce for this but I think it would be better with a homemade one. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a recipe for a taco sauce I like better than the store bought one.

3. If you have never had cilantro, I wouldn't add a lot. Cilantro is a very pungent flavor which can easily overpower everything.

4. I use safflower oil when I cook Mexican food because it has no flavor or odor. I think Mexican food is all about the ingredients and spices so I try not to mess with them to much. I do the same with Asian foods. They have safflower oil at my local supermarket in the specialty foods section. However, if you don't feel like owning another oil, you can just use olive oil.

The Alton Brown Smoker

Few things in life satisfy more than creating something delicious or useful with your own hands. Yet it seems these things are far more satisfying when they take a long time. This may be the reason that barbecuing becomes an obsession for so many people. It is something you must work at and wait for. The nice thing is, it seems pretty hard to screw up.

I first saw the "Q" episode of Good Eats a few years ago but didn't think twice about it. Over the last couple years I have gotten more involved with food and a few months ago I saw the episode again. I had never tried smoking anything, but I love barbecue and I'm always looking for something to spend some time and money on. I should explain that, in the episode, Alton builds a smoker out of ceramic pots and an electric hotplate. This appeals to me, a college student, who cannot fork over 700 bucks for a ceramic smoker. So far the smoker works great so I thought I would share how to make it.

Things to buy:
2 - 18" terra cotta pots

An electric hotplate (I recommend the $10 one from Walgreens)
22.5" replacement grill grate
Replacement grill thermometer
Heavy duty metal pie pan
3 bricks
Wood chunks of your choice (I recommend having hickory and a fruit wood like apple)

Everything here can be found at Lowe's or Home Depot, except the hotplate and pie pan. You may see other people using a 17" pot with a 17" terra cotta bowl used for the lid. You can do this too, just buy a 16" grill grate instead. I went with the 18" pots because of the increased cooking space. They don't make 18" terra cotta bowls so don't waste your time looking (I wasted a lot of time) just buy 2 pots. The hotplate from walgreens is nice because it is cheap and easy to take apart, which I will explain in a second, but any open coil electric hotplate will probably work.

Now to put it all together. First, take apart the hotplate. With the Walgreens version it is very simple and will allow you to control the temperature of the smoker from outside the pot. This will limit the number of times you must open the smoker and lose your heat. Follow these simple steps:

1. Unscrew the middle screw that connects the burner to the plastic base.

2. There are two wires inside the base which are connected by simple tabs. Pull these apart to seperate the burner from the base.

3. Place the base of the plate between the bricks and thread the wires through the hole in the bottom of a pot. Place the burner inside the base and reconnect the wires.

Now the heating controls are outside the smoker!

Place the pie pan on the hotplate and the grill grate in the lip of the bottom pot. Invert the second pot ontop of the first and plug the hole on top with the thermometer. Now you are ready to barbecue and you didn't spend $700 to do it! Of course you could always go out and buy a cheapo metal smoker for around $50, but metal smokers do not hold heat very well. The key to good barbecue is consistent low heat and the ceramic pots insulate well and the hotplate doesn't require fuel. Also, what fun is there in just buying something? Altogether this smoker cost about $70. I recommend that anyone who has considered barbecuing go and build one. There will be plenty of barbecue recipes to come!