Dear Thailand: Thanks for Curry

Dear Entire Nation of Thailand,

I am only one person and you are all Thai people considered in context of your history, culture, language, geography, and cuisine. So the weight of my awe and gratitude will be as nothing to you, less than the weight of a fly upon the back of an elephant.

Even so, I would like to express my deep happiness to have been put on the same planet as you, Entire Nation of Thailand. On a winter evening, in the gathering darkness and the unrelenting cold, a person comes to crave something lush and tropical. The muted colors and sounds of the icebound landscape leave little to see and hear, and other senses can make known their demands. Smell, touch, and taste clamor for something sensual and wildly delicious—something that will make the body feel life and warmth again.

And that, Entire Nation of Thailand, is why I am so indebted to you. From your collective imagination springs curry: a dish that bursts with flavor and color. As I eat a bowlful, the fragrant steam curls around my frozen heart. The melting ice loosens, slips, and falls in a shattering splash.

Simmered Curry
This makes a big old pot of curry, 6-8 servings. If I were up to usual caliber for this blog, I would make my own curry paste. But I am too tired, sad, and sick of winter today. Look, just make this and eat it, and I don’t think you can stay mad at me.

2 cans regular or light coconut milk
A 4oz jar of curry paste. I like Thai Kitchen.
½ c or more of chicken stock
2-4 T fish sauce
A kaffir lime leaf (you can find these at an Asian grocery or at Lunds - ask the produce manager to order you some)
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 white potato, peeled and cubed
3-4 carrots, peeled and cubed
1 zucchini, sliced
1 red bell pepper, cubed
A handful of frozen green peas
A package of seitan
Jasmine rice (or white rice if you can’t find it)

Stir the coconut milk and curry paste together until they bubble, then simmer for a few minutes. Put in the stock, fish sauce, lime leaf, potatoes, and carrots. Simmer for 20 minutes. It’s OK if the potato starts to get crumbly.

Add the zucchini and pepper. Simmer a few minutes until the vegetables are tender. Drop in the peas and seitan; heat through. Serve over cooked rice.

Thai Eggplant ‘Salad’

Could I just say that I like Thai food? I like it a lot. Good thing I live in the Twin Cities, where we are blessed with perhaps more than our fair share of great Thai restaurants. (No, New York City, you CANNOT have a single one of them. We need them all, thank you very much.)

Now, there are cuisines that are about complicated nuance. Thai isn’t one of them. Thai food is about FLAVOR and lots of it. Japanese food might be subtle, and French food might be art. But Thai is like the old Batman TV series. There’s a ton of fresh herbs, POW! And fish sauce, SOCK! And blisteringly fresh chiles, WHAM! A Thai dish doesn’t pull any punches. It’s a knock-down, drag-out good time that everyone can understand and enjoy. You better hope your mouth has room for all the deliciousness.

And there’s more to love about Thai than its candor: there’s also its accessibility, its freshness, and its immediacy. If you want to make food crammed with the best produce summer has to offer, then here’s something that will make your friends gasp.

That’s what my friends did this week when I served them this yam. The closest English word for yam is “salad,” but that falls far short. It’s more like a party, or an explosion, or everything you ever wanted to happen to you in terms of food. Serve it with just the lettuce leaves for an attention-getting bar snack. Or add thinly sliced cucumber and zucchini, cook up a pot of jasmine rice, and find some mango sorbet for dessert. Then you’ve got a pretty good meal.

Eggplant Salad
This recipe is adapted from Seductions of Rice: A Cookbook by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.

1.5 lb Japanese eggplants (the long thin purple kind)
½ c finely sliced shallots, separated into rings
½ c roughly chopped cilantro
¼ c chopped mint
6 T fresh lime juice
3 T Thai fish sauce
¼ t sugar
1 Thai chile, finely minced (more or less to taste)
1 head of soft lettuce, i.e. Bibb, separated into leaves

Diagonally slice the eggplant ¼ to ½ inch thick. Grill or broil the slices until golden brown on each side. Let them cool a bit, then chop coarsely and put in a large bowl. Add the shallots and herbs.

In a separate bowl, combine the juice, sauce, sugar, and chile. Pour onto the eggplant and toss. Set aside for a half hour or more so the eggplant can absorb the seasonings.

Serve the eggplant yam in a low bowl or on a plate accompanied by a plate of lettuce leaves (add thinly sliced vegetables if you like). Use the greens to scoop up a bite of yam.

Anyone know how to say “mangiamo” in Thai?