TDG: Desperate Measures: Thai Curry Tactics

[Fat Guy]

Mamster does Thai curry.

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[Fat Guy]

Mamster, regarding your fantasy notion of curry paste from a "master pounder," (would that be "M.P."?) the Bangkok Center Grocery, cited in your piece, now carries fresh, refrigerated curry paste flown in from Thailand. Jason P. and I stumbled across it the other day after lunch in Chinatown in Manhattan. Here's his report.

[Miss J]

Commercial paste is better than making your own?

Oooh mamster, wait 'til David Thompson gets his paws on you...

[Jinmyo]

Still though, mamster, a nice article.

[mamster]

Mamster, regarding your fantasy notion of curry paste from a "master pounder," (would that be "M.P."?) the Bangkok Center Grocery, cited in your piece, now carries fresh, refrigerated curry paste flown in from Thailand.

You pampered bastards.

Miss J, once in a while I've made a chile paste that was as good or better than commercial, but I think there's a lot of reflexive dissing of commercial curry paste purely because it's a processed commercial product. I think the better canned curry paste (such as Mae Ploy) is akin to Jif peanut butter: so good, there's rarely a reason to bother making your own. And I often hear people gushing about the curry at this Thai place or that, and I know they're using curry paste from a tub.

One thing I neglected to mention in the article (which, I must admit, is a rerun from a couple years ago) is that you can "freshen up" commercial paste by pounding in some fresh ingredients--garlic, shallots, chiles, whatever you have on hand. And I've found that the more unusual the curry, the less well you're going to be served by commercial paste. The basic red, green, and panang are my standbys, but I've been unhappy with massaman, gaeng som, and gaeng pa pastes, and must reluctantly conclude that these need to be made at home. In the case of gaeng som (sour curry) paste, at least, that's quite easy.

[Monica Bhide]

Thai cuisine is one of my favorites.. really nice article..thanks

[halland]

I've been experimenting in this area for about a year now and I completely agree with Mamster. Thai curries are such a quick dish to make and are amazingly gratifying and, at least in Seattle, the array of fresh ingredients is dizzying and so inexpensive at the ethnic markets. I know its a little unorthodox but salmon in a green curry with a yellow squash is simply great.

I just received a jar of Gaeng Tai Pla curry paste from a friend who was in Phuket in Thailand. Its made from fermented fish guts and is one of the signature dishes for the region. I'll follow up after I make a batch.

Hal

[LESider]

nice work Mamster. I'm with you on boosting the curry with some of the other ingredients .

I was recently in one of the thai markets in Chinatown NYC. I bought some Frozen Keffir Lime Leaves, some Coconut milk, the kind you pointed out, and some Oyster brand fish sauce. The Guy and his wife were all excited to show me the difference in quality between various brands.(nevermind piling things onto my order ) He said the Oyster Brand was excellent. Its definitely a nice light amber color and tastes good.

now here's the real kicker: Maesri vs Mae Ploy. For canned Curry Paste I always pick the Maesri. Love it. But for the tub I've gone with the Mae Ploy. Well, he had some Maesri on the counter and said it was better than the Mae Ploy. He opened up both and made me stick my nose in them. Well, not IN them, but getting a good whiff, you could actually smell the difference between the two. and it was noticeable.

It was nice to have a shop keeper actually take the time to explain some things with some knowledge and enthusiasm. Few and far between in NYC.

[fifi]

Oh... Thank you mamster.

I have been on the same journey and now only go for the tub. I am also gratified to see that some of the products that you have in your article are the ones that I use. The great thing about this is that I can even turn leftovers into a great quick meal. Put the brown rice in that fuzzy logic rice cooker, make up the curry, and I am in Thai leftover heaven.

[Ruth]

The Bangkok market on Mosco Street and the market on Bayard have been a wonderful source for Thai ingredients for years but I did not know that the Bangkok market is selling fresh curry pastes. That's wonderful. I agree with Mamster.Mae Ploy red and green curry pastes are great products. I use them to add zip to sauces that have nothing to do with Thai cuisine as well as for tradional curries.

[Fat Guy]

I did not know that the Bangkok market is selling fresh curry pastes.

They're in the refrigerator at the back left of the store.

I think the non-fresh products get a bad rap because they're associated with prefabricated "curry powder," which is truly vile stuff. The pastes are a huge step up, though. They're good products. Not great, but good.

[snowangel]

I like to use the larger cans of coconut milk, and before I add the other ingredients to the curry, ladle some of it out.

Heated up, served over rice and quartered hard boiled eggs, it makes a wonderful quick breakfast or lunch.

[col klink]

All right, I'm making up a batch of red curry tonight with chicken thighs and mushrooms. This better be good or your ass is lemongrass and I'm a chef's knife.

[mamster]

My posterior awaits your report.

[col klink]

It was loved by all!

Unfortunately I was cooking in somebody else's kitchen so I wasn't able to do everything I'd like. For instance sauteeing the chicken thighs before adding to the curry and his wok was his biggest pot/pan which was just barely big enough for everything. So far I've preferred my 12" skillet for these curries and although his wok was cast iron, I wasn't getting even heating. I added thighs, straw mushrooms, onions and taters and they worked rather well together.

This was the first time I added palm sugar and tamarind (no substitutes prior) and I really like how they rounded out the flavor of the red curry. I'm beginning to think why when I used green curry that this was the problem; I didn't taste the curry, only the heat. It wasn't that the green curry was bad, just boring.

I've also been adding lemongrass, is this inauthentic and why the hell is it so chewy? Did I have an inferior product?

[mamster]

Lemongrass is hardcore, Col., by which I mean it's a hard, fibrous, woody core. If you put chunks of it in something, you're not supposed to eat them. What I would do if you want to add fresh lemongrass flavor to your curry is slice some lemongrass thinly and pound it into the curry paste (there's already some in there to start with, but more won't hurt). I can't remember whether you got that Thai mortar and pestle at City Kitchens, but if you did, bust it out.

[tommy]

putting the lemongrass in a spice grinder does the trick as well. you can't feel the fiber in the final product, but i'm sure it's good for your innards.

[Schielke]

Just like a bowl of Colon Blow!

[snowangel]

Time for the curry thread to come back to the top.

I'm making prik khing curry tonight. It's a "dry" red curry with ground or shredded pork and long beans. Garnish with lime leaves, holy basil, whatever. The long beans at my local asian market just looked beautiful today and this is one of my favorite dishes.

[MatthewB]

Lemongrass is hardcore, Col., by which I mean it's a hard, fibrous, woody core.  If you put chunks of it in something, you're not supposed to eat them.  What I would do if you want to add fresh lemongrass flavor to your curry is slice some lemongrass thinly and pound it into the curry paste (there's already some in there to start with, but more won't hurt).  I can't remember whether you got that Thai mortar and pestle at City Kitchens, but if you did, bust it out.

mamster,

I just peel the fibrous outer leaves off.

You're left with the soft inner core. Then slice & dice.

Lemongrass is inexpensive when purchased from an Asian grocery. (At least, it inexpensive where I purchase it.)

[FoodMan]

Does the Thai Curry paste have a good shelf or "refrigerator" life?? I am planning on buying some red and green ones from ImportFood but I am not sure if I should buy more than one each. It's a funny thing that Snowangel put this thread back on top because I was about to do the same thing, this was one of mamster's best articles.

FM

[torakris]

Time for the curry thread to come back to the top. 

I'm making prik khing curry tonight.  It's a "dry" red curry with ground or shredded pork and long beans.  Garnish with lime leaves, holy basil, whatever.  The long beans at my local asian market just looked beautiful today and this is one of my favorite dishes.

recipe?

[Kenk]

I have been working on learning how to make a good Thai curry for the last little while. The best way to learn is probably from your mother. My mother did not make Thai curries so I have been trying to figure them out by myself, and the help of books, TV shows and of course e-gullet.

Mamsters article was one of the things that pushed me to get deeper into it.

I started using preprepared pastes. I found it hard to control the saltiness of the dish with the pastes.

I then started making the pastes myself. With homemade pastes you can get a fresher taste which I think is the most important qualities Thai cooking should have. You can also adjust the highlights of the curry, as you want.

Of course you must include and balance the saltiness, sweetness, sourness, and bitterness of the dish.

Another reason I have worked on my Thai curry was to make a kosher version of it for some friends of mine. I make it at their place, make a pot of curry chicken and then freeze the leftover paste that gets used to liven up other soups and stews.

Another good reason I like making Thai curry dishes is that after the curry paste is made, if you make a curry chicken for example, you do not need to brown the chicken in advance of cooking it. Then cooking time is also relatively short.

[KNorthrup]

Thanks for resurrecting this. I hadn't seen it before. The visual aides are so appreciated.

But a question. Why do you doubt whether spinach would work? I haven't tried it in a Thai curry, but my favourite Indian dish is lamb and potato and spinach curry. Is there something signficantly different in Thai type curries that would cause it to go slimy?

[tommy]

I'm making prik khing curry tonight.  It's a "dry" red curry with ground or shredded pork and long beans.  Garnish with lime leaves, holy basil, whatever.  The long beans at my local asian market just looked beautiful today and this is one of my favorite dishes.

this is one of my favorite dishes. i often make it sans meat. just long beans, or asparagus, as a side (using canned paste makes it a quick and easy way to make a flavorful side dish). are you making the curry from scratch?

Edited June 3, 2003 by tommy (log)