Thoughts, inspiration and stories from an Australian foodie in California

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Curry Night

There's something magical about sharing a meal with friends. We have a group of friends that seems to have expanded, so when we all got together for dinner last night - it was curry night. Hot steaming, spicy curries just seem to hit the spot on a cold winter evening. I also love curry because there are so many different flavors, and they allow so much creativity with spices, sauces as well as meat and vegetables.

Thinking about curries makes me think about my brother - he loves curries and anything spicy. When we were teenagers, he would cook dinner for our family, making curries so spicy that no one else could eat them and he would be crying from the heat. So it seemed quite fitting that his wedding was in Thailand in October - the wedding meal was a delicious Thai dinner, and we also spent time in Phuket exploring local eateries in search of the best Thai curry.

So last night each family made a curry, and the hosts provided rice and sides and appetizers. While it is the same concept as 'pot luck', I think the word doesn't do justice to the fabulous meal we enjoyed. Each dish was packed full of flavor, and came from different inspirations. Here's just a sampling of the curries we enjoyed: lamb rogan josh, curry beef pie, thai red chicken curry with peppers, cherry tomatoes and basil, vegetable yellow curry....

The dish I made was a new Thai favorite of mine - inspired from Mridula Baljekar's "Best-ever Curry Cookbook".

Thai Red Beef and vegetable curry with peanut sauce
1 lb (~500g) sirloin beef - sliced thinly
2 Japanese eggplant (the long skinny variety) - sliced
1 large handful of green beans
800mL coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 stalks of lemongrass
2 tbsp red curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen brand)
3.5 oz (100g) ground roasted peanuts
5 kaffir lime leaves
1 red chilli pepper

Cook half the coconut milk over medium heat until it develops a sheen. Then add the curry paste and cook until fragrant. Add the sugar, fish sauce and lemongrass and continue over a medium heat until the sauce develops a darker color (about 5 minutes).

At this point remove the lemongrass stalks, and mix in the remaining coconut milk. Bring the coconut milk back up to the boil and add the peanuts, beef, eggplant and beans and cook over a medium heat for about 8
minutes, or until the beef is cooked through and the vegetables are just soft.


Stir through the torn kaffir lime leaves and diced chilli, and serve.


** Kaffir lime leaves are available at Asian grocers, and look like other citrus leaves, but have two leaves connected together.

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