Me 0, curry paste 2
I bought this tub of green curry paste last week at Whole Foods.
It sounded great: It contains green chili, lemongrass, garlic, salt, galangal, shrimp paste, kaffir lime peel, coriander seed, pepper, cumin, and turmeric. It's $2.29, cheaper than those little jars of curry paste you sometimes see, and it's actually made in Thailand.
Which I should have kept in mind when I went to make dinner: tofu, eggplant, and green bean green curry. At the bottom of the instructions, it says, "Suggestion: For a milder flavor, half portion of the curry paste should be used."
Half portion? Pshaw! I love spicy food. So I scooped out a generous portion of the paste, which looks like this:
And I cooked dinner, and I took a bite, and I started coughing. Then I remembered a long ago trip to Thailand, where the minuscule chili that flavored an entire pot of incendiary soup somehow wound up in my bowl, then in my mouth. I vaguely remember lying down on my back on a bench with tears rolling down my cheeks while the women who did the cooking at this outdoor restaurant laughed and laughed. Well, it was pretty funny.
My curry had great flavor, but it was too spicy to eat. I wasn't giving up. I piled on a ton of cooling basil, mint, and cilantro and sliced cucumbers. Then I ate enough of it to have made cooking it worthwhile.
A few days later I tried again, using half the amount of curry paste.
It tasted exactly the same.
Heads up for those of you who order your food "pet pet" or "Thai hot" in Thai restaurants: Mae Ploy green curry paste, found at the Alewife Whole Foods.
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I used this same exact curry paste last night. I used about 1/4 cup of curry paste to one can of coconut milk plus maybe a half a can of so of water for about 4 servings of chicken, eggplant, and pepper green curry. I like it hot.
That may have been hot, but if you're looking for other flavors, the Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce rocks. We use it primarily as a dipping sauce for chicken won tons and other dunkable goodies, and the best part is a huge bottle is only about $1.79-$2.09 depending which Chinatown market you hit. What a steal, and the color is beautiful to boot.
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