Time to take a break from preparing for the upcoming PNWA Conference by eating curry!

Hi everyone! Today I decided to take a break from preparing for the 2012 PNWA conference and make some Thai food. My husband and I love Thai food. It’s spicy, salty, sweet and all things delicious.Now, I’m not a very good photographer, but hopefully you get the idea!

Today I made Red Curry with chicken and fried tofu, as well as prepared Gyoza (potstickers) and Jasmine rice.

Ingredients:

The ingredients: Red curry paste, fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, zucchini, small Asian chili peppers, fresh bamboo shoots, Thai Holy Basil, cilantro, garlic, coconut milk, fried tofu, limes.

The ingredients: Red curry paste, fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, zucchini, small Asian chili peppers, fresh bamboo shoots, Thai Holy Basil, cilantro, garlic, coconut milk, fried tofu, limes. Feel free to pour yourself a Disaranno Sour, like I did. 🙂

Step 1: Start by getting all of your ingredients chopped and ready. Rinse the bamboo shoots and strain them. Then, chop the garlic, zucchini, herbs and chicken.

If you are asking, what are bamboo shoots? You’re not alone. You can buy them in cans or fresh at an asian market. They need to be rinsed and chopped before use. What’s nice about bamboo shoots is that they stay crunchy in sauces like curry.

Chop the bamboo shoots! They feel like crunchy spaghetti noodles.

To save yourself time later when you are cooking, dump the zucchini, bamboo shoots, and any other vegetables you are adding that will cook in the same amount of time in to one bowl.

Throw your vegetables in to one bowl.

Step 2: Next, add a few tablespoons of oil to a pan. Add the chopped garlic and raise the heat to medium. I’ve added chopped chilis, but if you are not a fan of hot flavors, go ahead and leave them out. I’ve also added a few tablespoons of the red curry paste. Mash this up with the back of your spoon.

Heat this on medium heat until fragrant.

Step 3: Next add the chopped chicken (or whatever meat you would like). Cook until it is about three-quarters done.

Cook the chicken until it is about three-quarters done. Then move to the next step.

Step 4: When the chicken is almost cooked, add the coconut milk.

Add the coconut milk to the chicken.

Step 5: Bring the chicken and coconut milk to a simmer. I usually add a quarter cup of water to the can of coconut milk can, swish it around, and then dump it in the pan, too.

After about five minutes the chicken should be cooked. Add your vegetables, in this case, bamboo shoots and zucchini.

Add the vegetables to the sauce.

Step 6: At this point, add a tablespoon of fish sauce, a dash of sugar and the fried tofu.

Add the fried tofu near the end of cooking.

Now you should taste the sauce. Add more fish sauce if it needs salt, or sugar if it needs sweetness. I usually squeeze a lime in at this point to give it a little more kick. Chili sauce wouldn’t hurt, either, if you really like some heat!

Step 7: Time to eat! Serve this with white rice and gyoza. I used the fish sauce and sweet chili sauce, plus a bit of water and sugar, to make a dipping sauce.

Spoon the chicken and sauce mixture over your Jasmine rice, and voila! Dinner is served. This is a tasty break from writing my pitch!

Dinner is served! Red curry, Jasmine rice, gyoza and dipping sauce.