GREEN THAI CHICKEN CURRY
February 26, 2009 in Uncategorized
Here we are again……..blistering, sweltering, unrelenting heat in Cape Town. I am blaming the heat for robbing me of my mojo right now!!! I’m battling along in the kitchen without it!!The city is rife with tummy bugs and bacteria, sweet daughter was struck down yesterday so I had to do my stint of nursing, transporting to dr, babysitting kids until late afternoon!! Flies……….oh do lets talk about those freakin nuisance flies that arrive en mass if you start opening up food. Did you know that a fly can smell meat from up to 7km away???????? Neither did I!!! So you have to take the precautions, close the doors and windows, spray the little bast pests and then get on with your food prep…dying of the heat cos you dare not open a window!! My next house will have to have fly proofing on the windows thats for sure……As I type up this post I have all the doors and windows open, trying to catch any little flirty sea breeze, listening out for the rustling leaves of the big old tree that will herald the arrival of a bit of welcome cool air, the neighbour strumming on his guitar, the sound of the music he is making rising on the hot February night air, the rose beetles (June bugs as my friend the Texan calls them) buzzing around mindlessly and periodically dive bombing into my hair…sheesh I hate that – the soft hum of my lovely new pc……..mozzies buzzing…..and the soft pink little geckos darting back and forth on the wall catching any bug that dares to sit still for long enough 
) But very little wind…..almost non existent! Must be a record!!! A record which I believe is going to be broken by Sunday evening (after more snortingly hot weekend heat) with the advent of cooler weather….unfortunately accompanied by wind. I know that our Cape Doctor (south easterly wind) is necessary to keep our air clean but goodness I really hate the gale force wind that we get here!! After 25 years you would think I would be used to it but that just never happens!! It puts me in a bad mood LOL!!! Yep, I do get those sometimes ) And also, I always think of you poor lot up country who usually get rain when we have gale force south easters battering the peninsula. Then again……we have not been having an wind to write home about but the rain in the rest of the country seems to be never-ending……..time to break out the spices I would say and get cooking!!!
I wonder what it is that makes me long….really long…..for spicy foods? Even in the middle of the current heat wave……I’m talking hot & spicy chillies & curries!! Some folk, like my brownieboy, do not like hot, spicy food and then there’s me……….and Half-Pint….that hot little chilli lovin’ firey red-headed big hearted blogger from KZN………thank goodness I’m not alone in this plight of mine hehe!!! The hotter the better. People argue that then you can’t taste the flavour of the food but I beg to differ…….a well made hot & spicy, bursting with flavour, dish is the most sublimely delicious thing and my taste buds go on a route march just at the thought of it :o) Any chilli that I see – growing on bushes, lying in big mounds in the stores, hanging by bunches in farm stalls, pickled in bottles, is a thing of great beauty & attracts me from afar….I could wax lyrical about the little devils….but instead I shall spare you all my ode’s and rather eat them all up ) One day I do hope that Halfy and I can meet up over a plate of deliciously hot, spicy curry…
I haven’t done one of these for awhile because of that speed bump on my chilli highway of life….yes, I’m talking about the love of my life, brownieboy!! But I have managed to get around that now……I start the preparations the same & do the cooking in one pot until it comes to the adding of the curry paste and chillies…..then I separate it into two different pots, not forgetting to use TWO different spoons for each pot hehe, and proceed with the recipe…..mild and flavoury for brownieboy and hot and spicy for me……….
This was mine……………. )
MOO’S GREEN THAI CHICKEN CURRY
Serves 4
6 Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets – cubed
1 – 2 Large Onions – chopped
3 Cloves Garlic – finely chopped
2cm Ginger – finely grated
1 Lemongrass Stalk cut into 3 and bruised
1 Red or Green Chilli – finely sliced & pips removed
1 Large Can Coconut Milk
½ Cup White Wine or Chicken Stock
2tsp Flour
Olive Oil & Knob Butter
1 Tbs Green Curry Paste (use only 1tsp for Mr Moo & others like him!!)
Few Green Beans – sliced in half
Few Baby Corn – sliced thinly lengthwise
5ml Sambal Oelek or John West Chilli Paste (optional)
Small bunch of Kaffir Lime Leaves
Bunch Coriander – roughly chopped
3 small Spring Onions – finely sliced on the diagonal for garnishing
Saute onion, garlic & ginger in the oil
Deglaze with a bit of the liquid (wine or stock)
Add Chicken with butter and sear all over quickly
Add the curry paste & Chilli if using and stir well
Add the flour and stir to coat chicken
Pour in the rest of the liquid & the Coconut Milk
If needed add a bit of fresh milk to thin
Simmer for 10 minutes
Taste and season with salt and cracked black pepper
Stir in the prepared corn, yellow pepper and green beans, snow peas if you are using them & the lime leaves
Allow to simmer for another 10 minutes
Chop up some of the coriander and stir in at the last minute
Serve over a bed of steamed jasmine rice or Lockshen Noodles – garnished with chopped spring onion and a few coriander leaves
Oooooh it was YUMMY!!!! Even brownieboy ventured past his ummm it tastes different to but this I could eat again…not too often but again……. )
Tomorrow it is little Jay’s 1st birthday and he is loving all the attention and new toys……Friday I guess he will get his first sparkler at Spur…….I wonder what he will think of it, with his very weak eyesight he will be attracted to the moving light of it that’s for sure…..
Happy Birthday our precious little Jay bird. Papa & Nana love you and are here for you, always and always…just as we are for your big brother Ty…..be blessed little one!!
Have a delicious Friday everyone, I know I will…..I have an appointment with my favourite hair stylist at her lovely homely salon with the beautiful views across to Hout Bay!! I.m so looking forward to that head massage……
