Thai Green Curry Chicken

I am just back today after a heavenly lunch at the Thai pavillion at Vivanta By Taj Gurgaon. And frankly I cant stop dreaming about it!! 

An exclusive Bloggers table was held today at the hotel to commemorate the first Anniversary of Thai Pavillion and we were privileged to have amongst us the legendary Chef Ananda Solomon who cooked up quite a delicious fare for us to tantalize our taste buds.

Back home, the fresh vibrant flavors of the memorable food still lingered in my mind and I was inspired enough to try out a Thai dish for dinner tonight, much to the delight of my kids. Thai cuisine is one which still lies unexplored by me due to which I am not quite comfortable cooking it. As my husband is not very keen on Thai flavors, I have never felt the inclination or inspiration to try out my hand in it. Even if I wanted to try it out sometimes, the fresh ingredients were not easily available. But ofcourse times have changed now. I was surprised to find that even my local grocery store has a stock of ingredients like readymade spring roll wrappers, wasabi paste and whipped cream and fresh herbs like basil, celery a big boon for food enthusiasts like me.

This dish was also made keeping my daughter in mind as she is extremely fond of Thai food and especially now that she stays in a hostel and comes home only for the weekends, it gives me real pleasure to put in the extra effort to concoct something special which I know she would immensely enjoy.

To save myself some real effort, I have used a ready made green curry paste to flavor the chicken. It was surprisingly good and added the additional flavors to the curry. Also, what I liked about the ready made green curry paste was that the flavors were pretty balanced and the level of the chillies were quite toned done, perfect for a non-chilly eating family like ours.

This curry calls for Kaffir lime leaves but as this dish was kind of last minute thing I substituted the leaves for some lemon zest and lemon juice. Just be careful not to add in the zest too early as it will leave a bitter aftertaste in your curry. It should be stirred in just before serving. A dish that is totally effortless and made with the least of ingredients, a quick fix dinner that you can prepare in a jiffy and enjoy on a busy weekday.

Ingredients

250 ml coconut milk

1 cup veg stock or chicken stock

4 tbsp green curry taste

1 tbsp oil

1 garlic cloves finely chopped

¼ cup basil leaves, chopped

½ cup  blanched beans and carrots

1 cup boneless chicken, boiled

1 tsp palm or brown sugar

2 tsp fresh Kaffir lime leaves or a 3 wide strips lime zest

1 tsp lemon juice

Method

In  a large frying pan, heat oil until almost smoking point.

Put in the chopped garlic and stir quickly making sure it does not get browned.

Spoon  the green curry paste and stir it around for a few seconds.

Next pour in the coconut milk and let it come to a bubble.

Add the sugar,  pieces of chicken and vegetables.

Simmer covered for about 8 minutes.

Stir in the shredded lime juice and lime zest.

Just before serving add in the  basil leaves.

Scatter with the lime garnish and serve immediately with boiled rice.

Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango and Kiwi (Khao niew ma muang)

I know it is a little strange posting a mango recipe at this time of the year. Actually this recipe has been sitting for a long long time waiting patiently for me to press the 'publish' button and before this recipe too gets buried in deep amongst 'unpublished - to be posted soon' pile and disappears, I decided its time to share it with you especially as the dish is insanely delicious.

Another reason for it to be sitting idle for so long in the drafts section, is because I was waiting for it to be published in a food magazine. Yes! You heard it right. I too was excited when I was approached by a reputed magazine to be a part of their taste team by trying out their given recipe at home and share my thoughts about it, which would have been printed alongside the recipe in the magazine. Unfortunately for me there were were some snags with space issues on the page and the 'taste team' column had to be scrapped. 
Sad!! But still on a positive note, I got a great new recipe to try out which otherwise, quite likely I might not have made an attempt to try.

It turned out to be a delicious dessert without any fuss - sticky, al dente rice with a beautiful coconutty flavor. The best part is that the dessert is not overtly sweet which makes it a beautiful base combined with the sweet mangoes.

Do not be intimidated by the steaming instructions, you can steam any way. I did not have a bamboo steamer to steam my rice and as I did not want to buy one just to try this recipe out, I devised a makeshift steamer with a metal strainer atop a boiling pot which worked beautifully. Details about how to set this contraption up given below. Also remember that since the rice has to sit in the coconut mixture after being cooked, do not steam it too soft.

I know traditionally this coconut sticky rice is served with mangoes but as It will be quite some time before they make an appearance again in the markets here in India, you can try substituting the mangoes with caramelized pears or plums. I am sure they too will taste delicious.

For best results, serve it freshly steamed.

Ingredients

Serves 6 

For  rice

250 gms Sushi rice (Try Blue Dragon available at gourmet stores)

225 ml coconut milk unsweetened (Try Dabur Hommade available at grocery stores))

85-100 gms caster sugar

1 lime, juiced

For Sauce

1 mango, peeled, stoned and chopped

60 ml orange juice

1 tbsp lime juice

50 gms, golden caster sugar

For Decoration

1-2 mangoes, ripe, peeled, halved and very thinly sliced
2 Kiwis, sliced (optional)
a few leaves mint leaves
zest of 1 lime

Method

A day ahead, wash the rice in plenty of cold water, then drain and tip it into a bowl. (According to some people 3 hours are also enough to soak the rice but you can experiment). Pour over enough cold water to more than cover it and leave to soak overnight.

To make the mango sauce, liquidise the mango flesh with the orange juice, lime juice and sugar. Taste and add a little extra sugar or lime juice if necessary. Pass through a fine sieve, then chill if making ahead.

Drain the rice, transfer to a steamer and steam for 25-30 minutes until soft and tender, making sure the water doesn't boil dry. 

If you don't have a bamboo steamer, try out this method which worked beautifully too. Check it out here and also here how to make the perfect sticky rice without a steamer.

Simmer the coconut milk with 85 g of the sugar for 1 minute. 

Pour in the lime juice, stir in the steamed rice, then leave, covered, for 5 minutes until it has reached a thick, creamy consistency. 

Add more sugar to taste if needed. Cool slightly, for about 10 minutes, until tepid and holding its shape. 

The rice is best served slightly warm, as the longer it is left, the firmer and stickier it becomes.

For each serving, place a 6.5cm diameter x 3.5cm tall ring mould in the middle of a large plate. Spoon in 1/6th of the rice. 

Drizzle a little mango sauce around the rice. Arrange a few slices of mango on the sauce and lay a few slices on top of the rice with a sprinkling of lime zest. 

Arrange slices of cut Kiwis around the plate.

Scatter over a few mint leaves. 

Serve the remaining mango sauce separately.

Enjoy this Thai Restaurant styled dessert and impress everyone.