Thai-Style Curry

I was winging a Thai curry and ended up with this wonderful soup! Made quite a bit. Next time cashews, tomatoes, or raisins would be nice addition. One can easily skip meat and turn this into a vegetarian dish. The mom version below comes from an old recipe in a Taiwanese cookbook that the family had used for years.

CC#1’s Thai Curry Soup Ingredients:

• 2 cans coconut milk (full fat)

• A lot of red curry, I would say I used around 3-4 tablespoons?

• 5 Chicken thighs, pre-salted and cut into small chunks (I’m guessing around 2 pounds)

• 1 kefir lime leaf (straight from the tree :))

• Fish sauce, probably 2 tablespoons?

• 1 tsp oyster sauce 香菇蚝油

• 1 onion, diced

• 1 eggplant, cut into matchsticks and salted

• 2 carrots, cut into small cubes

• 2 potatoes, cut into large cubes

• 1 bunch watercress

• 1 pack 海鲜菇

SHC’s Thai Green Curry Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound to 1 pound skinless chicken thighs, cut to bite sizes

• 1 tbsp canola oil

• 2 tbsp Thai green curry paste

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk (this Nature’s Forest Organic Coconut Milk is the only guar-gum free coconut milk I can find)

• 4 tbsp fish sauce

• 2 tbsp palm sugar

• 6-8 keffir leaves

• Fried tofu puffs

• Any combination of the following: cherry tomatoes, eggplants (cubed), red onions (mom likes it sliced but CC#1 prefers diced), green beans, red or yellow peppers, grapes (halves), mushrooms, carrots (sliced). Cashew nuts also a good idea

• A bunch of basil leaves

Instructions

1. Bloom green or red curry paste in ample vegetable oil over low heat. Add in Kefir lime leaf, torn into a few chunks to fry.

2. Add top fatty part of coconut milk if you can find the gar-gum free ones (fat actually separates from the milk)

3. Add chicken pieces and cook until no longer pink

4. Add coconut milk. Remember to shake!

5. Add fish sauce and oyster sauce (optional for mom’s recipe), palm sugar, and potatoes (optional for mom’s recipe)

6. Cook for 8-10 minutes

7. Add tofu puffs, eggplants, cherry tomatoes, and green beans, and cook for 5 minutes

8. Add carrots, grapes, sliced onion, red or yellow peppers, mushrooms, watercress, etc.) and cook for 5 more minutes

9. Add chicken and carrots. Make sure soup comes back to a boil and chicken is cooked through.

10. Sprinkle chopped basil leaves and nuts