We finally decided to try to make the curry from scratch last night. By “we” I mean I made curry and Tim played with his friend.
There is only one ingredient in here that would make this not vegan/vegetarian friendly, and that is the shrimp paste. Frankly, since I haven’t tried this yet without the shrimp paste I don’t know if there would be a flavor difference or not… but there are so many other flavors in the curry paste that I don’t think the teaspoon of shrimp paste would be a big deal if omitted. Also, if the shrimp paste is not used, I am pretty sure it is gluten-free (I checked out the websites for Thai Kitchen (coconut milk) and Imagine (vegetable stock)).
Curry Paste (made 4 tablespoons)
-6 Jalapeno (?) peppers, chopped. More seeds equals more spicy.We bought what looked thin and spicy.
-1.5 tablespoons chopped lemongrass
-2 teaspoons chopped cilantro (I hate cilantro.)
-1 tablespoon chopped onion
-1 tablespoon garlic
-1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
-2 teaspoons cilantro seeds
-1 teaspoon cumin seeds
-6 peppercorns
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon shrimp paste (optional, if you want it to be vegan. I’ll try it next time without to see if it makes a taste difference.)
Curry
-3 “seconds” of vegetable oil (aka pour for ~3 seconds)
-14 ounces of coconut milk
-2.5 cups of vegetable stock
-Potatoes, about 4, in bite sized pieces
-Green pepper, in strips
-Broccoli head, cut sort of haphazardly (lots of tiny bits abounding)
-2/3 cup frozen peas
-2/3 cup frozen corn
-2 tablespoons of curry paste (above)
Rice
3 cups of white rice, dry
1 stalk of lemongrass
4 cardamom pods
Before: Chop all ingredients so they are ready.
1.) Combine all curry paste ingredients in a food processor. Grind and chop your way to a paste consistency. I couldn’t get it to be completely homogeneous like the store-bought pastes.
2.) Heat oil in pan. Fry curry paste for a few minutes.
3.) Add coconut milk, vegetable stock, and potatoes. Cook until potatoes are almost done.
4.) Add green peppers and broccoli. Cook for a few more minutes, then add peas and corn. It’s done when the peas and corn have warmed up, just make sure the potatoes are done.
To make rice:
Wash your rice a couple of times. I don’t cook rice on the stove, instead I use a lifesaving Zojirushi Japanese rice cooker with like 5 million settings on it. Unpeel the lemongrass a few layers and cut into about half in long pieces. Give each piece a good whack with a flat knife blade and throw into rice along with cardamom pods.
All the ingredients, minus the peppers
Just about ready to get crushed
All done!
