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Nov. 9th, 2007 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickIf there were any justice in this world..
If there were any justice in this world, some poor bastard over in Thailand would, right now, be trying to make "beef stew with biscuits and gravy" without a proper source for root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, swedes) and without an oven roasting dish or an oven. Best of luck to him or her, my faraway counterpart in what we shall henceforth refer to as inadvisable out-of-region cooking. Today's foray into IOC came about because pork loin was on sale at the grocery. Pork loin, as many of you probably already know, is my meat of choice for curry-with-meat. We shall not delve into how appropriate or historic or properly ethnic this is. I, as a Pennsylvanian of germanic descent, am rightly and properly an eater of pigs. It's proper for me to eat pigs in curry. All the rest of ya'll can eat chickens if that's the collective cut of your jibs.
I bought a pork loin, which sent the grocery bill over forty bucks. (Normally it's about half that.) I cut the pork loin up into serving-size amounts and froze most of it, but one piece of it I kept out for the aforementioned foray into IOC. Everybody up to speed so far? Right, then.
I wanted to make green Thai curry. There are a lot of directions on the internet for green Thai curry. Most of them say something like "... and add 2 Tbsp of green curry paste..." somewhere along the line. I do not have green curry paste. My grocery store does not carry it. My grocery store does not carry red curry paste, either. There is no Thai curry paste of any sort within fifty miles of my house.
I searched onward. The internets have some directions for scratch green curry paste if you belong to the camp that is too good to crack the jar of Mae Ploy. I selected one of those recipes. It's here if you want the whole thing, but the part that I'm going to talk about is quoted below so you don't really need to follow the link.
For the green curry paste:
8 green bird eye chillies (whole)
1 lemon grass stalk, sliced thinly and soaked for 30 minutes in 2 tablespoons lime juice
1 rounded teaspoon kaffir lime peel, pared and thinly shredded
7 thin slices Thai ginger (galangal)
1 heaped teaspoon coriander stalks, chopped
½ level teaspoon roasted ground cumin
½ level teaspoon roasted ground coriander
3 garlic cloves
5 Thai shallots peeled (or normal shallots if not available)
1 level teaspoon shrimp paste
Okay, now let's look at that ingredient list with an eye for what is *actually* available in my world.
8 green bird eye chillies (whole) No. My grocery does have fresh chili peppers and they are generally jalapeno or serrano. Basically, if it's not a Mexican or tex/mex pepper, I am not going to see it on the shelf at the local Weis. Today, I used four nice serranos (I think that's what they were but the guy rang 'em up as jalapenos. They did not smell grassy like jalapenos, though, and they didn't have the shoulders of jalapenos, were more streamlined and torpedo-shaped), seeded and half-assed cleaned of membrane.
1 lemon grass stalk, sliced thinly and soaked for 30 minutes in 2 tablespoons lime juice Not on your life. They have these, I think, at the Wegman's in State College, which is in no way near to me. I used the juice of one (regular) lime, instead.
1 rounded teaspoon kaffir lime peel, pared and thinly shredded No. We have limes in two kinds: Regular and (sometimes) Key. Those are the lime options in my world. I used the zest of one regular lime.
7 thin slices Thai ginger (galangal) I've seen this at Wegman's. At my grocery, I am lucky if they have regular ginger that isn't shriveled or molded. When it's nice and fresh, I buy several big pieces and put them in the freezer at home to stockpile me through shortages. I grated a nice amount of fresh (frozen) regular ginger because that's what I had. I didn't measure it, but it was a lot. I like ginger.
1 heaped teaspoon coriander stalks, chopped We actually have cilantro most days at the local grocery. As long as you are a clueful shopper who knows that "coriander" and "cilantro" are the same thing, you can have this. As it happens, I had this on hand and actually used what I was supposed to, only more of it. Go me!
½ level teaspoon roasted ground cumin We have this at the store but I get my dry spices from Penzey's anyway and I have the big jar o' cumin. I used a whole teaspoon. (The recipe is for 1 lb. of chicken. I was doing pork and more like 2 lbs thereof.)
½ level teaspoon roasted ground coriander We have this at the store, too, and I used the last of mine in this dish. I need to order more. I used 1 teaspoon plus the wee bit left in the jar.
3 garlic cloves The local grocery usually has pretty good garlic. I go through a lot of it, so buy in bulk, split out the cloves, and freeze until needed in a ziploc. I used five of these, five big ones. I like garlic.
5 Thai shallots peeled (or normal shallots if not available) No. We do not always have regular shallots. We never have Thai shallots. I used about a quarter of a regular white onion.
1 level teaspoon shrimp paste No. And if we did have it, I wouldn't use it. Not a fan. I put in half a teaspoon salt instead.
So.
Here's how to make Thai green curry paste if you live in redneck hell and can't get the ingredients you are supposed to be able to get.
In your blender, combine the following:
4 hot green chili peppers (jalapeno, serrano, whatever you've got that you can eat, seeded and de-membraned mostly)
zest and juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp (or more) grated regular ginger, fresh
handful chopped coriander/cilantro stalks (not leaves)
1 teasp. each cumin and coriander. (I did not roast but you can if you want.)
5 cloves fresh garlic.
1/4 white onion, chopped in a coarse dice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 glugs olive oil
enough water to let the blender puree into a pretty thick paste-like substance.
Blend that until it's a paste kind of thing.
Elsewhere, in your pot-for-cooking, you will need to put the white solids from a can of coconut milk. (My grocery has the A Taste of Thai brand.) Save the liquid part of the can for later. Cook the white solids until they melt. Cook them some more. Allegedly the oil seperates out if you cook it long enough but I couldn't get mine to do that. Maybe I was impatient. I will try again sometime. Anyway. When you are done cooking the white solids, put in your green paste stuff. Cook it until it smells good. At that point, add the pork loin (about two pounds, give or take), which you have already cut up into small, bite-sized pieces. Add the other liquid from the can of coconut milk. Cook, uncovered, until the meat is done. Eat over rice.
(I will be having this one again. It's quite good.)
If there were any justice in this world, some poor bastard over in Thailand would, right now, be trying to make "beef stew with biscuits and gravy" without a proper source for root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, swedes) and without an oven roasting dish or an oven. Best of luck to him or her, my faraway counterpart in what we shall henceforth refer to as inadvisable out-of-region cooking. Today's foray into IOC came about because pork loin was on sale at the grocery. Pork loin, as many of you probably already know, is my meat of choice for curry-with-meat. We shall not delve into how appropriate or historic or properly ethnic this is. I, as a Pennsylvanian of germanic descent, am rightly and properly an eater of pigs. It's proper for me to eat pigs in curry. All the rest of ya'll can eat chickens if that's the collective cut of your jibs.
I bought a pork loin, which sent the grocery bill over forty bucks. (Normally it's about half that.) I cut the pork loin up into serving-size amounts and froze most of it, but one piece of it I kept out for the aforementioned foray into IOC. Everybody up to speed so far? Right, then.
I wanted to make green Thai curry. There are a lot of directions on the internet for green Thai curry. Most of them say something like "... and add 2 Tbsp of green curry paste..." somewhere along the line. I do not have green curry paste. My grocery store does not carry it. My grocery store does not carry red curry paste, either. There is no Thai curry paste of any sort within fifty miles of my house.
I searched onward. The internets have some directions for scratch green curry paste if you belong to the camp that is too good to crack the jar of Mae Ploy. I selected one of those recipes. It's here if you want the whole thing, but the part that I'm going to talk about is quoted below so you don't really need to follow the link.
For the green curry paste:
8 green bird eye chillies (whole)
1 lemon grass stalk, sliced thinly and soaked for 30 minutes in 2 tablespoons lime juice
1 rounded teaspoon kaffir lime peel, pared and thinly shredded
7 thin slices Thai ginger (galangal)
1 heaped teaspoon coriander stalks, chopped
½ level teaspoon roasted ground cumin
½ level teaspoon roasted ground coriander
3 garlic cloves
5 Thai shallots peeled (or normal shallots if not available)
1 level teaspoon shrimp paste
Okay, now let's look at that ingredient list with an eye for what is *actually* available in my world.
8 green bird eye chillies (whole) No. My grocery does have fresh chili peppers and they are generally jalapeno or serrano. Basically, if it's not a Mexican or tex/mex pepper, I am not going to see it on the shelf at the local Weis. Today, I used four nice serranos (I think that's what they were but the guy rang 'em up as jalapenos. They did not smell grassy like jalapenos, though, and they didn't have the shoulders of jalapenos, were more streamlined and torpedo-shaped), seeded and half-assed cleaned of membrane.
1 lemon grass stalk, sliced thinly and soaked for 30 minutes in 2 tablespoons lime juice Not on your life. They have these, I think, at the Wegman's in State College, which is in no way near to me. I used the juice of one (regular) lime, instead.
1 rounded teaspoon kaffir lime peel, pared and thinly shredded No. We have limes in two kinds: Regular and (sometimes) Key. Those are the lime options in my world. I used the zest of one regular lime.
7 thin slices Thai ginger (galangal) I've seen this at Wegman's. At my grocery, I am lucky if they have regular ginger that isn't shriveled or molded. When it's nice and fresh, I buy several big pieces and put them in the freezer at home to stockpile me through shortages. I grated a nice amount of fresh (frozen) regular ginger because that's what I had. I didn't measure it, but it was a lot. I like ginger.
1 heaped teaspoon coriander stalks, chopped We actually have cilantro most days at the local grocery. As long as you are a clueful shopper who knows that "coriander" and "cilantro" are the same thing, you can have this. As it happens, I had this on hand and actually used what I was supposed to, only more of it. Go me!
½ level teaspoon roasted ground cumin We have this at the store but I get my dry spices from Penzey's anyway and I have the big jar o' cumin. I used a whole teaspoon. (The recipe is for 1 lb. of chicken. I was doing pork and more like 2 lbs thereof.)
½ level teaspoon roasted ground coriander We have this at the store, too, and I used the last of mine in this dish. I need to order more. I used 1 teaspoon plus the wee bit left in the jar.
3 garlic cloves The local grocery usually has pretty good garlic. I go through a lot of it, so buy in bulk, split out the cloves, and freeze until needed in a ziploc. I used five of these, five big ones. I like garlic.
5 Thai shallots peeled (or normal shallots if not available) No. We do not always have regular shallots. We never have Thai shallots. I used about a quarter of a regular white onion.
1 level teaspoon shrimp paste No. And if we did have it, I wouldn't use it. Not a fan. I put in half a teaspoon salt instead.
So.
Here's how to make Thai green curry paste if you live in redneck hell and can't get the ingredients you are supposed to be able to get.
In your blender, combine the following:
4 hot green chili peppers (jalapeno, serrano, whatever you've got that you can eat, seeded and de-membraned mostly)
zest and juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp (or more) grated regular ginger, fresh
handful chopped coriander/cilantro stalks (not leaves)
1 teasp. each cumin and coriander. (I did not roast but you can if you want.)
5 cloves fresh garlic.
1/4 white onion, chopped in a coarse dice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 glugs olive oil
enough water to let the blender puree into a pretty thick paste-like substance.
Blend that until it's a paste kind of thing.
Elsewhere, in your pot-for-cooking, you will need to put the white solids from a can of coconut milk. (My grocery has the A Taste of Thai brand.) Save the liquid part of the can for later. Cook the white solids until they melt. Cook them some more. Allegedly the oil seperates out if you cook it long enough but I couldn't get mine to do that. Maybe I was impatient. I will try again sometime. Anyway. When you are done cooking the white solids, put in your green paste stuff. Cook it until it smells good. At that point, add the pork loin (about two pounds, give or take), which you have already cut up into small, bite-sized pieces. Add the other liquid from the can of coconut milk. Cook, uncovered, until the meat is done. Eat over rice.
(I will be having this one again. It's quite good.)
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-10 01:25 am (UTC)one of the more surprising things about living in the middle of Arkansas is that we have a really good variety of grocery stores where I can buy food with labels I can't read.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-10 02:10 am (UTC)A wide variety of not-readable grocery foods is not something I would have expected of middle Arkansas. Also, while I bitch about the local grocery, they've really expanded the choices in the last ten years. Gains come in the long-keeping staples and canned goods well before the produce aisle sees any improvement, but the store is making an effort on all fronts.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-10 02:28 am (UTC)I grew up about 100 or so miles north of here, and I'm sure they still don't have the variety we get in Little Rock. we've got quite the cultural mix down here.
you'd probably enjoy this site: http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/eatarkansas/