“No step in the direction for the authenticity of taste,” I wrote after each completed course at the Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts. And she was absolutely right. Thai cuisine is not very complicated, but very multicomponent. And multivalent - means that the whole mountain of ingredients will perfectly combine with each other. But the whole point is in the details. Deep-fried garlic on the tip of a knife or 1/4 teaspoon of daikon soaked in soy sauce may seem inconspicuous, but give the dish all its flavor. Come on, if you cook - everything is in order.

Curry is at the same time the name of pasta (a mixture of spices), and dishes based on it. Curry is served with vegetables, potatoes and often meat or seafood, indicating the dish in the menu as the main, such as soup. And in both cases it is true. The curry is distinguished by the color that sets the composition of the curry paste - the least spicy green, then the yellow curry, the sharpest - red. This is the base base. In Tai alone, about 20 types of curry are prepared. The most popular of which are these colored, masaman (Muslim) curry, penang (Malaysian), kaeng som (sour tamarind-based curry, which is prepared without coconut milk in the final dish). Well, obviously, if we cook curry at home — do not be lazy to find all the ingredients on the list. For quick curry, we use ready-made curry paste mixtures, but we follow all the proportions and steps of the cooking process from the recipes of the dishes themselves.

Red curry

Red = spicy = chili. If we consider the usual normal size - 6-7 cm - chili, then the average sharpness for curry is 2-3 peppers, 4-5 is a spicy dish, 1-2 is not considered spicy. Large green chiles are sharper than red ones. Small - 2-3 cm - red chiles are sharper than green large ones.

for red curry paste:

• 1 dry chili
• 3-5 small fresh chiles
• 2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
• 2 tsp. chopped shallots (in this case can be replaced with regular onions)
• ? tsp peel of occupying lime (replacement - a leaf of ofir lime, sold in Asian stores dry or in powder form, in extreme cases - lime zest)
• 2 tsp. chopped lemongrass
• 1 tsp. chopped galangal root
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp. shrimp paste
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Dry chili cut and soak in water. Put in a mortar, add black pepper and salt, grind well. Add fresh chili and grind thoroughly into a paste. Add the galangal, lemongrass, zest, garlic and onion and also mash. At the end, add the shrimp paste and mix the ingredients thoroughly.

Red curry with chicken and potatoes

• 1/2 chicken fillet (or any other meat, proportional to volume)
• 1-2 green eggplants (the size of a ping pong ball, but if you do not have a summer cottage, it seems to me that in our region there are practically no ripe eggplants, so we replace them with 1 ripe eggplant)
• 1/3 cup baby eggplants (quite germ, pea-sized eggplants, bitter to taste; these balcasses are of the same kind, but not the same as purple. Bitter in taste and hardly replaceable, so just skip it if you live not in Asia)
• 1 boiled potato
• 2 tablespoons black pepper (ideally green fresh or dry, but black is perfect)
• 1/3 cup pickled bamboo shoots (not replaceable, skip if not)
• a large handful of green basil leaves
• 3 leaves of occupation lime
• ? fresh fine chili
• 2 tbsp red curry paste
• ? cups chicken broth
• 1 cup coconut milk or cream
• 1-2 tbsp. fish sauce
• ? tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Eggplant cut into cubes and soak in water with 1 tbsp. lime or lemon juice for 5-7 minutes. Heat a frying pan or wok over medium heat. Add curry paste and broth, stir for 15 seconds. Add chicken, lime leaves, peppercorns, remaining broth. Cook for 1 minute. Add eggplants (pre-squeezed), potatoes, bamboo, all cut into cubes and cook for another 2 minutes. Pour in coconut milk, bring to a boil, pour in fish sauce, add sugar. Cook for 2 minutes until the meat turns white. Add basil and chili, remove from heat after 15 seconds. Serve hot and boiled or steamed rice.

Yellow curry

So yellow curry is kaeng kari or kaeng lueang. Prepared with meat, fish, seafood and vegetarian vegetable version. There is no single recipe, but there is a base - pasta. What combines yellow curries is that all are not much more “creamy” and sweet than green and red. The most common are with chicken or beef and potatoes. But I will give an easier option — shrimp and pineapple. Such curry is better absorbed, besides, you do not have to add sugar - pineapple sweetness will be enough.

for yellow curry paste:

• 2 shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 7 cm galangal root
• 4 cm ginger root
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds (shambala)
• 20 small dry chili peppers (or 2-3 large ones)
• 5 stalks of lemongrass
• 2 tsp. turmeric
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro greens (with stems)
• 2 tsp. shrimp paste
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper

Grind all ingredients and grind in a mortar to a paste state. You can use a blender.

Yellow curry with shrimps

• 300 g shrimp
• 100 g asparagus beans
• 1 small carrot
• 1/2 pineapple (preferably fresh, but can be used canned)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 400 ml of coconut milk
• 150 ml of water or chicken broth
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp yellow curry paste

Shrimps are cleaned, pineapple and carrots are cut into small cubes, beans - 2-4 cm pieces. We heat a wok or a large frying pan, with sides. Add a little vegetable oil, yellow curry paste and shrimp. Cook over high heat for three minutes, stirring constantly. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook for another 3 minutes. Serve hot. For lovers, it is sharper - with chopped fresh chili.

a denser and more satisfying option — chicken fillet instead of shrimp, boiled potatoes instead of pineapple, 1 sweet onion and 1 tomato.

Thai green curry with chicken and potatoes

Green curry or Krumah Gaeng(curry) Kiaw(green) Waan(sweet) — both the name of pastes (mixtures of spices) and dishes based on it. Curry is served with vegetables, potatoes and often meat or seafood, indicating the dish in the menu as the main, such as soup. And in both cases it is true. The curry is distinguished by the color that sets the composition of the curry paste - the least spicy green, then yellow curry (in the photo below), the sharpest - red.

for green curry paste:

• 6 small fresh green chiles
• 3 tsp. chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 tsp. chopped shallots
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. chopped lemongrass (white part)
• 1 tsp. chopped galangal
• 3 leaves of occupant lime (the most correct recipe is to use some occupant peel, but due to lack, we use its dry leaves or replace it with any other citrus leaf, the hunt for tangerines with leaves is open)
• 1 tsp. chopped cilantro root (we are looking for bundles with roots on sale) or 1 1/2 tsp. chopped stems
• 1 tsp. shrimp paste
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp anise
• 1/4 tsp black peppercorns

We get the taste — in a dry heated frying pan without oil, we fry the coriander seeds, cumin, anise and black pepper for 30 seconds. Pour into a mortar with salt and crush to a state of powder. Add the shallots, garlic, chili and cilantro leaves. Push to a state of wet paste. Add lemongrass, galangal, citrus leaves and coriander roots. Again, press to a homogeneous state. Mix with shrimp paste, the role of which is to enhance the taste of each of the ingredients and again grind until smooth.

The number of ingredients can be doubled, then the process will take a little longer. You can store fresh chili paste in a plastic container in the refrigerator or even freeze it.

Green curry with chicken and potatoes

Thai variant - Gaeng(curry) Kaiw(cream) Waan(sweet) Spikes(chicken), words can be invented, they are universal. 10-15 concepts will help you quickly navigate in any menu. And the coolest thing about all curries is that they can be cooked in 10-15 minutes. The main thing is to have on hand all the ingredients.. and boiled potatoes).

Essential for all Thai recipes- balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy. All 4 flavors are always present in recipes.

• 1 small chicken fillet
• 1 small eggplant (it is better to take a small variety — the size of a small chicken egg)
• 4 tbsp. baby-eggplants (unripe, bitter fruits the size of peas. In Ukraine I did not find anything on sale, — nowhere. feel free to replace with 4 tbsp. green peas or green beans)
• 3 potatoes (boiled in uniform)
• a large handful of green basil (if you find lemon, it is closest to Thai in taste)
• 1 fresh large red chili or hot pepper
• 2 leaves of occupation lime (change to any citrus)
• 3 tbsp. curry paste (recipe above)
• 80 ml chicken broth (feel free to replace with water, if not)
• 200 ml coconut cream (or milk)
• 2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. lime juice

Eggplant is cut into thin slices and dipped in water with squeezed lime juice to avoid darkening. Cut the chicken into slices a little thinner than 1 cm. Boiled potatoes are cleaned, cut into slices 1/2 cm thick. Heat the wok or pan.

Add vegetable oil, curry paste and chicken. Quickly fry, reduce heat, pour in a little broth and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add eggplant and potatoes, chili, pour in the broth and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Pour in coconut milk or cream, let it boil and cook for 1 minute. Add the fish sauce and sugar, followed by the basil leaves, mix and remove from the heat. Serve hot.