Crouton’s Kaeng Phed Cai (Red Chicken Curry)
Update (4/10/10): I prepared this dish again last night, trying another brand of red curry paste and adding shrimp. Since the curry mixture can be soupy, I decided to serve it over rice in bowls — it was much prettier that way. I heated up spring rolls (available prepared & frozen in many markets) to serve on the side. Photos (click to enlarge):
 Red curry chicken & shrimp |
 Detail |
Original entry (3/9/10): Looks more yellow than red, doesn’t it? Maybe I didn’t use the right curry paste. Well. The Thai adventure continues, this time with a recipe from the 1970 Time-Life Pacific & Southeast Asia Cookbook, modified by yours truly.
Kaeng Phed Cai
Kaeng Phed Cai
- 3 cups coconut milk
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 2 chicken breasts, skinned, boned, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 small potatoes, peeled & chopped into bite-size pieces
- 6 thin slices from a hot green chili pepper (don’t overdo)
- 12 Chinese snow peas (cut off ends & remove the stringy fiber)
- 2 small red salad peppers, sliced into strips, pulp & seeds removed
- 1/2 can Japanese straw mushrooms, drained
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Directions
Pour 1 cup coconut milk into a saucepot. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, stir until the liquid reduces somewhat. Add curry paste and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until coconut milk/curry paste mixture reduces somewhat. Add chicken and potatoes and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender and potatoes are cooked.
Now add remaining 2 cups of coconut milk, chili pepper, snow peas, and salad peppers. Cook over low heat until the peas and peppers are just tender. Add mushrooms and fish sauce and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Serve with boiled rice and garnish the curry with chopped basil leaves.
Notes
The Time-Life recipe does not include vegetables. I thought the curry would be better with them, and it was. I used canned coconut milk from the Asian section of the supermarket (where I also found the canned Japanese mushrooms) and prepared curry paste (which I found at Sunflower Market).
Tasty? Yes, indeedy!
