Thai Red Curry

Look at the beauty of the thick red curry below. I wish I could share the refreshing spicy lemongrassy coconut-y fragrance rising from it and I made it from scratch!

I stumbled upon Thai Red Curry at 14 when one of my favourite restaurants Monis, one of the oldest restaurants in Thane, introduced new dishes in their menu. I took a chance despite reading coconut and I fell in love at first bite! Since then it has always been my preferred order at the restaurant and even at Thai restaurants with a wider menu, I still order this comforting meal.

I have tried to figure out how to make it without having to buy the readymade pastes and having to hunt for the ingredients all over the world! I have finally attempted and cracked the recipe for an Indian kitchen with most of the ingredients now most commonly found in one. The only new ingredient we don't find are the lime leaves, but a trip to Crawford helped me with it. I am sure they are available with certain vegetable vendors (hey now they stock lettuce and cherry tomatoes and broccoli et al!) and next time I will look for them there.

Thai Red Curry (Vegetarian)

For the red curry paste

7-8 whole kashmiri chillies soaked in water for at least 3-4 hours

1 onion

6-8 cloves of garlic

1/2 inch piece of ginger

2 lemon grass leaves

5-6 Kaffir lime leaves (which the vegetable vendor I got from called it nimbu ka patta!)

1 tbsp dhania-jeera powder

Salt to taste

For the curry

1/2 medium sized red pepper diced

1/2 medium sized yellow pepper diced

1/2 medium sized green pepper diced

4-5 baby corns diced

200 ml coconut milk

2 tbsps olive or peanut oil

Salt to taste

Method

Grind the chillies, onion, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, Kaffir lime leaves dhania-jeera powder and salt to make a smooth paste.

In a deep frying pan, heat the oil, add the vegetables and toss them till they are a bit glossy. Add the red curry paste prepared as above and the coconut milk with the salt. Cook till it comes to a boil, you can add a bit of water for adjusting the consistency as you like it.

Serve it with a heap of hot steaming rice.