Asian Recipes:Thai Red Curry

My accidental Thai Red Curry :)

This is actually an accidentally recipe, I was deciding what to cook and at first thought I wanted to cook chicken in soya sauce (Malaysian style) but then in the middle of saute'ing the onions I decided to make something like Ayam Masak Merah but more totamo-ish, rummaged through the fridge and decided to throw in tomato puree, lemongrass, curry leaves but in the end I thought the taste didn't quite blend so I decided to just add in coconut milk to make it more creamy and curry like. The end result is something like the thai red curry and although the recipe is accidental, the dish tasted good enough so I am keeping this :)

My Thai Red Curry Recipe is as such:

4 parts chicken

1 medium sized onion

3 cloves garlic

2 thin slices of young ginger

4 stalks of dried chilies

3/4 tbsp of curry powder 

2 cardamom pods (pelaga)

3 cloves (bunga cengkih)

3 star anise (bunga lawang)

1 stalk lemongrass -bruised-

15 curry leaves
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp chili sauce
1 fresh tomatoes -cut into 8
15 cashews
coconut milk
water
oil to saute
salt to taste

How to cook Thai Red Curry:

1. Blend the onion, garlic, ginger, dried chilies and curry powder together.

2. Heat up the pan and put some oil in (2 or 3 tbsp should be more than enough) then saute the blended ingredients, cardomom pods, cloves, star anise, lemongrass, curry leaves and tomato puree (about 5 minutes or so - be careful not to let it dry up).

3. Add in the tomato sauce, chili sauce, chicken and enough water to just cover the chicken and let it simmer for 30- 40 minutes. 

4. Heat up a separate pan and just toast the cashews on it for a bit just to make it crunchy. Set aside. 

5. When the chicken is tender, add in coconut milk (this is more to your personal taste I guess, you can use dehydrated coconut milk or the ones in a tetra pack) add half first and then taste a bit and add a bit more if you like it creamier. For myself, I just used some leftover grated coconut in the fridge, put it in a blender, add warm water, blend it and then strain the milk. I used about 1 bowl of coconut milk. Add in the fresh tomatoes and cashews and turn off the heat just when the gravy starts to bubble. 

6. Add salt to taste.