Thai curry just as good or better than your typical takeout is within reach, thanks to this one-pot recipe. The key here is to buy a good Thai curry paste. Cookbook author Leela Punyaratabandhu says commercial pastes are the best way to get the traditional flavors if you can't acquire the right ingredients to make your own. We decided to take her up on that suggestion.
We also tested the recipe with chicken (boneless, skinless thighs), which worked well. Round, green Thai eggplants can be trickier to find, but we found that long Asian eggplant was a fine substitute, though they do tend to cook up softer.
You'll need two 14-ounce cans of coconut milk for this dish. For the cream, skim off the thick top without stirring. For the milk, stir the contents of the can together to incorporate.
Serve with jasmine rice or, to keep the carbs low, riced cauliflower.
Green Curry With Beef and Thai Eggplant (Kaeng Khiao Wan Nuea)
- 8 ounces round Thai eggplants, stemmed and quartered through the stem end OR 8 ounces Asian eggplant, halved vertically and cut into ½-inch slices
- ½ lemon
- ½ cup coconut cream (skimmed from the top of a 14-ounce can of coconut milk)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons green curry paste
- 1 ½ cups canned coconut milk (from one 14-ounce can)
- 12 ounces chuck roast, cut against the grain and on the diagonal into bite-size pieces
- 2 fresh Thai mild long chiles OR ½ green bell pepper, cut lengthwise on the diagonal into 1/4-inch-wide strips
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons packed grated palm sugar or brown sugar
- ½ cup packed Thai basil or Italian sweet basil leaves
Place the eggplant pieces in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice.
In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the coconut cream, coconut oil and curry paste over medium-high heat and stir until the paste is fragrant and the coconut fat separates (you'll see shiny droplets of fat on the surface), about 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and beef and bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Drain the eggplants and add them to the pan along with the chiles, fish sauce, sugar and, if necessary, just enough water to keep everything submerged. Turn up the heat just enough to return the curry to a simmer, cover and continue to cook until the eggplants are tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
Taste for seasoning. No more sugar should be added, but more fish sauce may be needed. When the flavor is to your liking, remove the pan from the heat, stir in the basil leaves and serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Nutrition information: Each (of six) serving contains approximately 380 calories, 12 g protein, 25 g fat, 9 g carbohydrate (3 g sugar), 40 mg cholesterol, 770 mg sodium and 3 g fiber.
Carbohydrate choices: 1.
Recipe adapted from "Simple Thai Food," by Leela Punyaratabandhu (Ten Speed Press, 2014).