I remember tasting it and thinking to myself, if there is something that tastes as good as this out there, I certainly have not tried it! Incidentally, all of the dishes we made in culinary school after the Authentic Thai Green Curry Shrimp were also bursting with fresh flavors. This experience brought my love affair with Thai food to a whole new level.

I love many types of cuisine including, Brazilian, Italian, Indian, Middle Eastern, but Thai food is my adopted favorite. People always ask me, if you would have to live on one kind of cuisine for the rest of your life, which one would it be, and the answer to that would probably be Thai.

Now going back to what it takes in order to make this delicious Authentic Thai Green Curry Shrimp, here is a question that I get constantly from beginner cooks out there.

Homemade curry paste, is it really worth the efforts?

The answer is yes, absolutely! You could still prepare a good curry with a store bought paste, but the flavor will not be as alive and it will not taste truly authentic. In my opinion, to fully experience a Thai curry dish you will have to make your own curry paste. Trust me, once you taste curry this way, you will be glad you put in the time and effort. You will also realize that adopting this traditional approach really doesn’t take much time and effort, given that you are going to make one of the most delicate and luscious foods in the world. You can also make extra and store it for future use. However if some ingredients are not available where you live, then a store bought one is inevitable. In general, curry paste manufactures save on cost and extend the paste’s shelf life by cutting down on the amount of chilies, garlic and shallots used as they are costly and contain moisture. This is also the leading reason fresh curry pastes go bad. Extra salt is typically added as natural preservative, making most ready-made pastes too salty, not harmonious and refined. When using ready-made paste, I recommended that you add ingredients such as extra shallots, garlic, Kaffir lime leaves or lime zest if not available, and fresh bird’s eye chilies to enhance the flavor, aroma and body of the paste.

• KNOWING THE INGREDIENTS

Most Thai Curry dishes consist of :

• PASTE- All types of curry pastes. Red, green, yellow, and massaman being the most popular ones.
• CHILIES- *Spur Chilies* or phrik chi fat. These chilies give color but not much of the spicy flavor. The fresh ones (comes in red, green or yellow color) and are mostly used in stir-fries, relishes or as a garnish. Only sometimes they are used in curry paste. Dried spur chilies are pounded and used mostly in curry paste. They must be deseeded and soaked in water to soften before using it.
• ‘Thai Chilies’, some Thais would call them phrik china. They come in green and red color, smaller than spur chilies. They are less spicy than bird’s eye chilies but the heat is intense to western standard. Both fresh and dried forms are used.
•  ‘Bird’s eye Chilies’, or phrik khi nu sun. These little scuds are know for their fiery hotness and signature aroma. Like spur chilies, both fresh and dried forms have their own place in Thai kitchen. The dried chilies are soaked to soften (no need to deseed). Steams are often discarded.
• ‘Isan Chilies’, crucial in northeastern kitchen, Isan chilies are uniquely aromatic. Once cooked, the heat noticeably faded away. There is no exact substitute that would give the same flavor and aroma. However, you may use dried Thai chilies in less amount as closest alternative.
• ‘Karen Chilies’, extremely spicy, Karen chilies are popular for jungle curries and stir-fries. Like Isan chilies, there is no exact substitute. You may use the same (or more, if you want) amount of dried Thai chilies are the closest substitute.

FRESH AROMATICS- Lemongrass- gives wonderful aroma and texture. Usually only the bottom thirds are used as they contain more aromatic oil. The fibrous outer layers are discarded. Inner parts of fresh lemongrass should be pinkish purple. The top parts are ideal for soups or lemongrass drink. Just bruise them and cook in boiling water.

• Galangal- Similar to lemongrass, galangal gives wonderful aroma when cooked in hot liquid. Young galangals are bruised and used in soups while mature ones are good for making curry paste as they are pungent and peppery.
• Ginger- Thai kitchen utilizes ginger much less than galangal. Mature ginger is mostly seen in Indian-influenced curry paste and Chinese stir-fries.
• Turmeric- Is a crucial ingredient in southern Thai kitchen. It has a softer flavor and aroma. It also contains medicinal properties. Turmeric skin should be scraped off using the tip of a paring knife. Turmeric stains everything so it is advised to wear a pair of gloves when handling. Turmeric pairs very well with fish and chicken. Do not substitute with powdered turmeric.
• Coriander- Also known as cilantro or Chinese parsley, in an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most traditionally used in cooking. Whole coriander plant is good in Thai cooking. Coarsely chopped leaves and stem are used as delicious and attractive garnish. The roots are extremely aromatic and sweet. Choose the smaller roots as they are sweeter and more aromatic than the large, fibrous roots.
• Kaffir lime rind- The rind delivers floral aroma to the curry paste. Use a sharp paring knife to peel off only the green part. Just like when you zest a lemon, the white pith is bitter and should not be used.
• Kaffir lime leaves- Slice or torn kaffir lime leaves makes the curry pleasantly scented. Choose the leaves that are neither too young nor too old. Young leaves are light green and soft to touch. Old leaves are dark green and rather stiff. Stack and roll up the leaves then finely slice to use in curries or stir-fries. If the recipe calls for torn kaffir lime leaves, remove the bitter midribs first then tear. In general the leaves should be added at the very end of cooking process. You add the leaves, stir lightly to mix, turn off the heat.

LIQUID: Such as water, stock and coconut milk. As an experienced cook, I do NOT recommend using LOW FAT coconut milk, as it will affect the flavor of your curry.

PROTEIN: Such as Meat, poultry, and seafood.

VEGETABLES: Such as Thai eggplant, Pea eggplant, Kabocha, White cabbage, Okra, Morning glory or water spinach, Bean sprouts, mushrooms, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, and many others.

HERBS: Such as Holy basil leaves, Kaffir lime leaves, (Cilantro|Coriander), scallions, and mint which is mostly used in salads and dips.

SEASONING: A balance of SALTY (Fish Sauce, Soy sauce, salt), SOUR: (Lime juice, Tamarind juice),

SWEET: Palm sugar, Granulated sugar.

RICE: Jasmine rice and long grain sweet rice.

To make this Authentic Thai Curry Shrimp I made my own curry paste. Here are the steps to it:

• Warning: When dealing with Thai bird’s eye or long green chillies I recommend using latex gloves or if you don’t have a pair of gloves available, to wash your hands immediately with lots of soap after finishing chopping your chillies, and to wash your cut board, in order to avoid rubbing your eyes by accident and ending up with a pepper burn. This could be extremely painful and in some cases it could even cost you a trip to the emergency room!

Step one: Lightly toast coriander seed, cumin seed and black peppercorns in a dry sauté pan. Grind them together in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Finely chop the rest of the fresh ingredients as seen in the picture. It will be easier to grind the mixture in a mortar if you chop everything very finely to begin with.

Step two: Begin by pounding your dry ingredients together. Start off first with the dry seeds, and then pound the fresh ingredients one by one, both kinds of chilies with the salt, the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime zest, cilantro roots, garlic, and shallots. Garlic and shallots should be added last because shallots contain water, and the liquid can splash out of the dish. (Add the garlic before shallots). This should take about 10-15 minutes, so pace yourself.

Step 3: Add the ground dried spices, and the shrimp paste and continue pounding to obtain a coarse curry paste. Mix everything together and set aside for immediate use, or refrigerate in a glass food storage container. To store curry paste, transfer to a clean screw-top jar, cover with a layer of oil. Storing it this way will allow the paste to remain fresh tasting for up to one month. To freeze curry paste, spoon into ice-cube trays and freeze. Transfer to a seal-able plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Frozen curry paste will loose some of it’s heat. You can fix that by adding some fresh sliced spur chilies to your curry dish when cooking.

Once your curry paste is ready, it’s time to make your Authentic Thai Green Curry Shrimp. In a wok or large sauce pan heat the oil, cook the onions, add the scallions, curry paste, and then cook the remaining ingredients one by one. Recipe to follow.

Once your Authentic Thai Shrimp Curry is ready add the cilantro and spur chili if using it. Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice on the side. Enjoy!

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Authentic Thai Green Curry Shrimp

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• FOR THE THAI GREEN SHRIMP CURRY
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• I large yellow sweet onion finely sliced
• 3/4 cup finely sliced scallions
• 2 Tbsp Thai green curry paste homemade or store bought
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1/2 Tbsp of palm sugar or granulated cane sugar
• 3 Tbsp of Thai fish sauce
• 2 pounds of prawns or shrimp uncooked, and cleaned leaving the tails on for flavor
• 3 kaffir lime leaves midribs removed and torn, or 1 Tsp of lime zest
• 1 Tbsp coriander-cilantro chopped
• 2 red spur chillies sliced diagonally
• ****************************************************************************
• FOR THE CURRY PASTE
• Yield: 6-7 ounces
• Ingredients:
• 1 Tsp coriander seed
• Half Tsp cumin seed
• 1 Tsp whole black peppercorns
• 5 green spur chilies finely sliced
• 15 Thai bird's eye green chilies finely sliced
• 1 Tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp mature galangal or ginger root peeled and finely chopped
• 2 lemongrass stalks outer layers discarded, bottom thirds only, finely sliced and fibrous cores removed
• 1 Tsp kaffir lime zest or lime zest
• 3 Tbsp cilantro stems finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp of garlic skins removed finely chopped
• 3 shallots peeled and finely chopped around 3 Tbsp
• 1 Tsp Thai shrimp paste
• *****************************************************************************

Instructions

• FOR THE CURRY PASTE
• In a saute pan, lightly toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and peppercorns until they get brown in color, around 3 minutes.Transfer them into a mortar and pestle and pound them together and scoop them out to a bowl. Pound both kinds of chilies together with salt as fine as you can. Sea salt helps the chilies get smooth faster and easier. When pounding chilies, you may use your other hand to cover half of the mortar mouth to prevent the liquid bursting into your eyes. Then add the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime zest, cilantro steams and continue to pound until they are coarse. Add the garlic pound, and then add the shallots. Continue pounding until as coarse as possible. Add the reserved ground dried spices and the shrimp paste. Mix everything together and pound for another minute. Your homemade curry paste is almost impossible to be smooth. It should look very coarse though. Store the curry paste in a glass food storage container. Curry paste can be refrigerated for up to 1 month. To store curry paste, transfer to a clean screw-top jar, cover with a layer of oil.
• ****************************************************************************
• FOR THE THAI GREEN CURRY SHRIMP
• Put the oil or coconut cream into the wok and increase the fire to high. Add the yellow sweet onion. Cook the onion until it gets soft and golden in color about 3 minutes. Lower the fire to low. Add the scallions and the curry paste and cook stirring constinuously until fragrant for about 30 seconds.
• Add the coconut milk, water, palm sugar and fish sauce. Increase the fire to medium-high and bring to a boil.
• Add the prawns and cook until tender, stirring often, about 3 minutes.
• Add the kaffir lime leaves. Cook for one minute.
• Turn off the fire. Add half of the chopped cilantro and spur chilies. Stir it.
• Pour into bowls, and decorate with the remaining cilantro leaves and sliced spur chilies.
• Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
• Enjoy!

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This Authentic Tom Yum Goong Soup, also known in America as Tom Yam Kung, is a popular hot and sour shrimp soup in Thailand made with a blend of spicy and savory flavors, also made popular at many Thai restaurants around the world.

If you like spicy healthy soups this dish typically prepared with shrimp or chicken will have you at hello! The first time I tried Tom Yum Goong Soup, I am not sure I was even able to taste what I was eating! I was dining at a Thai restaurant in Amsterdam and I had a bad cold at the time. I was so congested that I hadn’t really tasted anything for days. I was seated at the bar, and I watched as the chef, a Thai woman in her 50’s working at an open kitchen, prepared the soup. She was brought over to the Nederland’s by the owner of the restaurant, who fell in love with her cooking while on vacation in Thailand.

The chef asked how spicy I wanted the soup and I told her, I don’t know, you decide. Well, she must have added a lot of chillies because my mouth was on fire afterwords and I was sweating like crazy. Surprisingly the next day the most amazing thing happened… I got up in the morning and my cold was gone! I don’t know if it was the chillies or all of the amazing antioxidants in the soup, but my cold was cured.

The next night, I went back to the restaurant and I told the chef that I was feeling great and that my cold had vanished. That evening I ordered two servings of the soup, and a curry dish to go along with it as an Entree. Ever since that first evening, this soup has had a special place in my heart. I could go on and on about how much I love this dish but I will let you be the judge. This recipe for Tom Yum Goong Soup recipe is an authentic recipe that I learned while at cooking school in Thailand. If you love Thai food as much as I do you will certainly appreciate the authenticity of this dish. Enjoy!

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Authentic Tom Yum Goong Soup

Course Soup

Cuisine Thai

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 2 cups of water or fish stock
• 1 lemongrass stalk - with the outermost leaf removed - sliced diagonally into 1 inch pieces
• 5 slices of galangal ginger about half inch each
• 5 kaffir lime leaves sliced in half
• 2 TSP Thai Chili Paste
• 10 medium sized prawns heads removed, peeled and deveined
• 1- 2 TBSP of fish sauce
• 2 TSP of sugar
• 3 TBSP of lime juice
• 1 cup straw mushrooms or any type of mushrooms- trim the stem off and cut into quarters
• 1 small tomato cut into quarters
• 2 TBSP of coconut milk
• 2 to 3 bird's eye chilies or more if you like it hot
• 1 TBSP of coriander leaves- cilantro leaves chopped
• 1 green onion cut into quarters

Instructions

• - Pour stock into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
• - Add the lemongrass, the galangal ginger, the kaffir lime leaves and the chilli paste, and allow to simmer between 1 and 2 minutes
• - Add the prawns, the fish sauce, the sugar, the lime juice, and simmer for two minutes.
• - Add the mushrooms, the tomato, the coconut milk, the bird's eye chilies and simmer for another minute
• - Add the coriander leaves or cilantro leaves, the green onions and turn off the heat.
• - Taste the soup and adjust the flavors. You may add more lime juice, fish sauce or chilies if needed. Taste and serve.

The post Authentic Tom Yum Goong Soup appeared first on My Global Cuisine.

I love Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil so much that I could eat it almost every day. If you have tried any of my recipes by now you know that I love strong flavors. This Thai Red Curry Chicken certainly meets that criteria with its perfect balance of spicy and sweet. If you are familiar with traditional Thai curries you will appreciate the authentic ingredients in this dish. If you are just a beginner, you will be starting off on the right foot and will impress your friends and family with the final result. This Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil is a great dish to serve when entertaining. You can prepare the dish a day in advance or before your guests arrive and rewarm just before serving. If you do prepare the dish in advance I would recommend though that you wait to add the red chilies, the kaffir lime leaves and the sweet basil at just prior to serving to keep the flavor and colors vibrant.

Here is a photo showing some of the key ingredients. If you don’t live nearby a Thai or Asian grocery store, you could order them from Amazon.com. You can have kafir lime leaves and even Thai chilies shipped right to your home. Both can be stored in ziplock freezer bags and kept frozen. This will preserve both their color and aroma for a long time. For the chilies you’ll want to cut their steams off and put them into a small freezer-safe storage bag, remove as much air as possible from the bag, and seal it.

I recommend you invest in a good wok. It’s an essential tool for Thai and Asian food cooking. I use mine all the time.

The dish is typically served with Jasmine rice, but you can use your favorite rice if you don’t have any on hand. In my house, and in many Asian homes, a rice cooker is used to prepare the rice. Using a rice cooker allows me to prepare the rice hours in advance and have it warm and moist when I’m ready to serve.

I hope you will enjoy making this wonderful dish as much as do. Happy New Year!

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Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 2 Ibs chicken breasts sliced into chunks or into bite sizes
• 1 13 1/2 ounces can of coconut milk shaken
• 1 TBSP of red curry paste
• 2 TSP of tamarind paste
• 1 TBSP of palm sugar
• 2 TBSP of low sodium chicken broth or water
• 1 1/2 TBSP of Thai fish sauce
• 1 to 2 red chillies thinly sliced
• 5 kaffir lime leaves julienned
• 1 handful of Thai sweet basil

Instructions

• - Bring the coconut milk to boil in a large wok or in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
• - Add the curry paste and stir to blend. Add the tamarind paste and stir to blend. Add the palm sugar, the chicken broth and the fish sauce and stir for about 1 minute.
• - Add the chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through and changes color, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Do not overcook the chicken, otherwise it will get tough.
• - Add the the red chillies with the seeds, the kaffir lime leaves and the basil and cook for about 1 minute. Taste sauce and adjust flavors. For more heat, add more of the sliced chillies. For more salt, add more fish sauce. Serve with steamed Thai jasmine rice.

The post Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil appeared first on My Global Cuisine.

I love this Grilled Garlic Pasted Chicken (Gai Yang) so much. There is nothing better than chicken, cilantro, garlic and sweet chili sauce together.

The peppercorns, garlic and cilantro grind into a paste.

I was told at the Culinary Institute that Grilled Garlic Pasted Chicken (Gai Yang) is a street food from Thailand and is frequently served at boxing matches. While in Thailand I did not visit a boxing ring, but every time I make Grilled Garlic Pasted Chicken (Gai Yang) I can’t help but visualize riled up spectators at a boxing match and a man walking around with helping of this dish to serve the people, most likely served with a bottle of cold beer. I hope you enjoy making this recipe. If you love Thai food, stay tuned as I am planning to post some great dishes I learned both in culinary arts school and while in Thailand.

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Grilled Garlic Pasted Chicken (Gai Yang)

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 27 minutes minutes

Total Time 57 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs
• 2 TSP black peppercorns
• 5-6 large cloves garlic peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 TBSP coarsely chopped cilantro roots or stems
• pinch salt
• 2-3 TBSP Thai fish sauce
• 3 TBSP Thai sweet chili sauce

Instructions

• Place peppercorns and garlic in a mortar and grind to a paste. Add the roots and salt, and continue to pound, this will take about 10 minutes, so pace yourself.
• Stir in one TSP of fish sauce, store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator.
• In a large bowl combine the cilantro root paste and fish sauce. Place the chicken tights in the marinade and coat well. Let stand, covered, at room temperature for about 1 hour, or in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
• Heat the grill or preheat the broiler.
• IF GRILLING: place the chicken pieces 4-5 inches from the flame, bone side down, and grill until the bottom starts to brown. Turn over and cook skin side until golden brown and juices run clear.
• IF ROASTING: Pre-heat oven to 220'C (425'F) Place the chicken on an oiled broiling pan, bone side up, and roast it for 15 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 12 minutes, until the chicken tights starts to brown and juices run clear.
• Serve with the Thai sweet chili sauce on the side

The post Grilled Garlic Pasted Chicken (Gai Yang) appeared first on My Global Cuisine.