Squash Curry

Now that you have a recipe for Thai curry paste, here's something to put it in.

Ingredients


1 button or butternut squash (approximately 1 lb)
2 14 oz cans of coconut milk. DO NOT use the ones marked as "dessert" coconut milk. I use Aroy-D brand
1 lb pork or chicken
Red Curry paste
2 Tbsp Green Mountain seasoning sauce or soy sauce
5 Tbsp Fish sauce (I use Tiparos)
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
3 tsp sugar
.5 cup loosely packed Thai basil leaves

Prep


Halve the squash lengthwise and scrape out all the seeds and gunk. Cut the squash into 3/4 inch slices, remove rind, and further cut into pieces approximately 1 inch to 1.5 inches long, as shown. Place the chunks in a large bowl, covered with water.

Slice the meat into .5 inch thick pieces.







Stir it up
Equipment: large stock pot (8 qt or more), table spoon (not a measuring spoon, but a large spoon that you would actually use at the table).

Curry paste and coconut milk head

Begin by opening the first can of coconut milk. There should be a thick creamy head on it that is not liquidy. Add four spoonfuls of the coconut milk head along with 5 heaping spoonfuls of the curry paste to the stock pot and turn it up to medium heat, stirring the two ingredients together. One the heat brings out the fragrance of the curry paste and the room starts to smell really good, add the sliced meat and cook, stirring constantly (about 3 minutes).

Cooking the meat

Once Add 2 spoonfuls of soy or seasoning sauce, 1 spoonful of oyster sauce and 5 spoonfuls of fish sauce, and 3 tsp of sugar. Add all of the remaining coconut milk. Bring to a boil.

With the squash added

Drain squash from water and add to the pot. The coconut milk should cover the squash and pork. Simmer until squash is soft. Once the squash is done, turn off the heat and stir in most of the Thai basil leaves. Serve alone or with rice, garnish with remaining Thai basil.

Thai Red Curry Paste

Recently I've been on a curry kick of all kinds, so when the chance to learn how to make Thai curries presented itself to me, I jumped at the chance. So this recipe is the real deal, straight from real Thai cooks. Their original recipe is spicy, but not too spicy, about a 6 out of 10 on the heat scale.

Almost all ingredients can be found at a good Asian grocery. You will need a blender or food processor. Also possible to do it the traditional way with a mortar and pestle.

Update Feb. 16, 2020: Metric weights for ingredients, may differ slightly from list below

100g lemongrass
125g garlic
175g shallots
125g galangal
  20g chilis
  25g cilantro stalks (for green curry)
  25g Thai basil stalks (for green curry)
    4T fish sauce
    2T lime juice
    2T water


4 Stalks Lemongrass
12 fresh red Thai chiles (more if desired. Dried chiles are an option, but may lead to a spicier curry paste. For green curry, use green chiles)
15 shallots
15-20 cloves of garlic (there should be approximately equal amounts garlic and shallot)
.2 Lbs Galangal - a root, related to Ginger (there should be much less galangal in comparison to the shallots or garlic)
4 Tbsp fish sauce (I use Tiparos brand)
water
1 small can red chile/curry paste (optional, mostly for color)

Prep

Depending on whether you're using a mortar and pestle or a blender, you may have more work to do.

Lemongrass: Cut away the leafy green part of the stalk, approximately the uppermost 25%, and remove the outermost layer of the lemongrass. Rinse. Cut into slices about 1cm (.5 inch) thick.

Clockwise from top: Garlic, chiles, lemongrass, shallots, galangal

Galangal: Galangal is very hard to work with, so make sure you have a sharp knife. Cut away the dried out ends of the Galangal. First slice it into thin (3 mm or an eighth of an inch) disks, then cut those into smaller pieces.

Shallots and garlic: Peel and if using a blender, cut in half.

Chiles: remove stems




Grind it out

Put all the ingredients into your mixing device along with the oil and 1/4 cup of water. Optional: add a small can of store bought red curry paste, used mostly for color.

Grind/blend until it is a fine paste. Add more water to the blender if necessary, to help it blend.

Putting it in an ice cube tray and freezing it is a great way to store it long term.