Thai Green Curry with Chicken and Eggplant

When summer comes and it gets hot outside, nothing feels better than a nice spicy Thai curry. Maybe because the spices make you sweat, and that cools you off. I think it is the irresistible combination of soft chicken, sweetness of coconut milk and the pungent aroma of kaffir lime leaves. Despite growing up eating Indian food at home, I prefer Thai curry in all its different glorious flavors (red, green, yellow) to any other type of curry, even Indian curry or Japanese curry!

There are a hundred variations on this dish. You can make it with fish, chicken, beef, vegetables. It doesn't matter-it all tastes good.

The key to this dish is taking a small amount of coconut milk and adding all your spices and flavoring agents for the curry to the coconut milk. Its best to start with the eggplants and then your chicken (as opposed to chicken and then your eggplants). This way, the eggplants will achieve the right amount of softness (you want them soft, but still with some structure). Then slowly cook your meat in the flavored coconut milk. As with all coconut curries, you do not want the milk to boil vigorously--just a simmer will do! Once all the vegetables and chicken have cooked, add the remainder of the coconut milk for a quick finish.

Of course, having homemade fresh green curry paste really makes this dish, but that is really time consuming. You can find curry paste in most Thai or Asian grocery stores, and they work good. I use a brand of curry paste called Mae Ploy, which is available at most Asian grocery stores. Now, ordinarily, I am not a fan of prepackaged foods. This Mae Ploy is different. It is really good and super simple.  I even found it in Japan when I was living over there! It comes in a plastic tub and the curry paste is in a plastic bag inside. Similar to a pastry piping bag, I cut off one small corner and then gently squeeze out the paste. Mae Ploy carries a variety of flavors-I have green, red and yellow in my refrigerator and use them for different curries.





Ingredients
1.5 cups unsweetened coconut milk (1 can)
1 tablespoon green curry paste, or to taste (I prefer Mae Ploy brand)
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin slivers (use a pair of scissors)
2 Japanese eggplant, cut into cubes
1 cup rick dark chicken stock (8 cubes)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips or cut into cubes
2 cups bamboo shoots
2 red tomatoes, cut into wedges
15 fresh basil leaves, cut in half
Fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions
Turn your gas onto medium heat. Place your wok or pot on the range to heat up.

Pour a bit of coconut milk into the wok and swirl it around so it covers the wok thinly (around 1/3 of a cup)

Let it heat for a few seconds until a little bubbly.















Add the curry paste and lemon grass and stir until the aroma is released, about 1 minute.

Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, sugar, turmeric and lime leaves. Bring to a light boil and reduce heat to a simmer.













Add the eggplant cook for a few minutes until the eggplant becomes soft. You do not want the eggplant super soft, to the point where it is mushy. Nor do you want the eggplant hard. Japanese eggplants work best for this, as they retain less water. Chinese eggplants are the next best thing. Italian eggplants really are not suited for this dish-they have too much water in them.












Add the chicken and cook until it turns white, around 3 to 5 minutes.
















Add the remaining coconut milk,  bamboo shoots and tomatoes. Continue to simmer for 3 minutes, until the vegetables are hot. Adjust the temperature as necessary to insure that the coconut milk does not come to a vigorous boil.

Remove from heat and stir in the basil.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice. Garnish with cilantro

Baigan Bhartha (Spicy Roasted Eggplant)

This is a classic North Indian dish.

I prefer using Japanese or Chinese eggplants for this dish, rather than their American cousins. If you are using a larger variety of eggplant (such as an American eggplant), it may be necessary to halve or quarter them lengthwise first, before roasting, so they will cook evenly.

Ingredients
1 lbs eggplants
1.5 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground red pepper (I prefer Korean red pepper, used for preparing kimchi for this recipe, as the flakes are larger and offer more texture
.5 teaspoon Garam Masala
3 medium tomatoes, blanched, peeled and diced
2 green chilis, deseeded and minced
1 teaspoon salt
2.5 teaspoon freshly minced coriander leaves.

1. Rub the eggplants with a little oil. roast under a hot grill or broiler in your over for several minutes on each side until the skin breaks and the eggplant is soft inside.









Peel the eggplant and discard the skin. To peel the eggplant, I usually take the back of a bread knife and run it down the length of the eggplant. They flesh should be soft and peel right off. I then usually repeat again to get more of the flesh off.  Slice and set aside.





Add a swig of vegetable oil to the wok and turn the wok around to coat it evenly. Stir fry the onion until lightly browned.

Add coriander, cumin, red pepper and Garam Masala and stir fry for 1 minute. 

Add tomatoes and continue to stir fry for a few minutes.











Gently stir in the cooked eggplant and garnish with fresh coriander. This goes well with fresh Naan or Chappati.




Enjoy!