Alec loves curry, loves it.  I haven’t been making it too much because when I was pregnant it made me sicker than anything.  And I have been a little slow to go back to eating it.  This past weekend, I did make a curry that we both enjoyed a lot.  We found a recipe from one of our cookbooks and adapted it.  We were not sure what it was going to end up tasting like, but it had a Thai curry flavor to it.  The curry paste is very spicy, but the coconut cream in it mellows it out nicely.  Even Lucy thought it was good.  Granted this was not a great parenting move here, but she kept batting at my food and trying to eat it, so finally I gave her a taste of the sauce figuring she would dislike it and let me eat in peace.  She loved it to our utter amazement.  Don’t worry, I did not give her any more, but I think she is going to be an adventurous eater.

Yellow Coconut Curry

The Paste:

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2-3 died red chilis

2 lemongrass stems, white part only, finely chopped

3 shallots, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon ground tumeric

A dash of oil for mixing

Method:

Dry-fry the coriander and cumin seeds until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Grind the seeds to a powder with a mortar and pestle.

You can use pre-ground cumin and coriander to be honest, it just won’t be quite as fragrant.  But if that is what you have, go ahead and use it.

Next, remove the stems and seeds from the chilis and soak in water for 10 minutes to re-hydrate them.  We found a big bag of dried hot chilis at United Noodle for only $2.  Drain and chop.

I put everything into the food processor in order to get it nice and smooth.

This is the paste after processing:

This recipe makes enough for two batches of the Yellow Coconut Curry.  The curry paste will stay fresh for one week in the fridge.  Just a warning, this stuff is pretty hot on its own.

The Yellow Coconut Chicken Curry Recipe:

1 tablespoon oil

2 tablespoons of the yellow curry paste

1 pound chicken breast, sliced

1 can coconut cream (it is important to get coconut cream and not coconut milk–though the milk is much easier to find.  They are two very different things, and the dish will not turn out with the milk.  I found the coconut cream at Cub in the ethnic food section, but was not able to find it at all at Rainbow)

6 green onions sliced

1 (1o ounce) can of sliced bamboo shoots

2 teaspoons sugar

1 large handful of basil

juice of half a lime

Method:

Cook the chicken in a wok (or large fry pan) in the oil.  Once the chicken is getting cooked, add in the curry paste and completely coat the chicken.  Add in the coconut cream, green onions, bamboo shoots, and sugar.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce was thickened.

Right before you are going to serve the curry, add in the basil and the lime juice.  The basil is soooo good in this dish, do not skip it!

Finally is a picture of me trying to enjoy the meal, but little Miss Lucy had other plans.

After realizing we would not give her any more curry, she decided to entertain herself with my napkin.  It might be because it had some curry flavor to it.  She is a funny little girl.