Kaeng Kua Curry – (Seafood/Chicken with pineapple

Well, the current favorite for the next recipe seems to be #2, the Kaeng Kua Curry – (Seafood/Chicken with pineapple in red curry).

First off, been meaning to do this…

Here are what the cans of thai curry paste look like:

As Andy, our thai cooking instructor said "doesn’t matter you cant read can – take to store, show them, say I want this!"

Most folks know what fresh ginger looks like, I’ll post a picture of fresh galangal soon.  It looks like fresh ginger, but bigger (thicker) and darker. 

So, by popular demand, here’s the Kaeng-Kua Curry.  It’s ridiculously quick to make, once you’ve got the ingredients ready.  I’ll post another one tomorrow or so.

 

Kaeng-Kua Curry (Seafood/Chicken with Pineapple in Red Curry)

Serves 2-3.  Prep time: 15-20 minutes once things are chopped.

Read all directions and notes before starting.  A wok is very good for this dish, or a large skillet.

This is best served over steamed rice – preferably, jasmine rice, which is usually available at all grocery stores.

 

Ingredients

1 lb beef, chicken or seafood.  Cut chicken into thin slices, fish cut into 1” squares, shrimp peeled and de-veined.

8-32 oz fresh or canned pineapple (SEE NOTES!)

1-2 tbsp red chili paste (kaeng-kua curry)

1.5 cans or more coconut milk (low fat option: see notes)

3 to 4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

1-2 tbsp veg. oil

4 tbsp or more fish sauce (see notes)

1 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)

1 tbsp tamarind concentrate (see notes)

Directions

1.        Stirfry the red curry paste in veg oil until aromatic (3-5 min).  Add meat, kaffir lime leaves. Continue frying until meat is cooked and meat & curry are mixed well together.
2.        Just before meat is done cooking, add fish sauce, continue frying another 2 min.
3.        Pour in coconut milk and bring to a boil.
4.        Add the pineapple, stirring until well mixed.  Optional: add more coconut milk if desired. 
5.        Optional:  for slightly more sour/sweet, add tamarind concentrate.
6.        Simmer 10-12 min. until meat and pineapple are thorougly mixed and cooked.  Remove from heat, serve over rice.

 

 

 

Notes

Pineapple:  The amount really depends on how sweet you like this dish.  The instructor used 1 ½ cans – 1 can crushed, ½ can pieces (drained).  It’s good that way, but sweet.  We prefer less sweet, and ½ can is sufficient for us. 

Coconut milk – low fat option – Use 10 oz. soy milk, add 1-2 tbsp powdered coconut milk (it comes in an envelope, thai markets).

Kaffir lime leaves: Thai markets again.  Usually in the freezers, in very small packages.  You never need a lot, but their flavor is very unique and another secret ingredient.  DO NOT SUBSTITUTE REGULAR LIME JUICE!!  They don’t taste the same at all. Kaffir leaves are very different.

Fish sauce:  Thai markets, some other oriental markets.  If you are vegetarian, there is a vegetarian mushroom  sauce available from thaimarket.com that works.  Or, just add dashes of rice vinegar and soy till you get a balance tween salty and sour that you like.

Tamarind concentrate: Tamarind is a fruit, its juice is concentrated down.  A very tangy, almost sour flavor, this is one of the secret ingredients to several thai dishes.

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Sorry if this looks weird, I had to re-paste some stuff and adjust Word formatting, and it won’t fix. Oh well.

later folks!

-Jude

 

****  edit ****
Interesting suggestion:  I’ll try to sample some of the cans tonite and put some "relative" comments up on some of the flavors. Note I say "relative"  – not too hot for me is flame-throwing scalding to some of our friends.  But I’ll try to be somewhat objective.  Better me than Sweety – she never thinks things are hot, tells her friends, and they light up like christmas trees from the heat.  They’re not amused, but it is entertaining to watch..