{"id":1777,"date":"2013-09-21T19:24:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T02:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2013-09-21T19:24:48","modified_gmt":"2013-09-22T02:24:48","slug":"authentic-thai-red-curry-with-seafoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/?p=1777","title":{"rendered":"Authentic Thai Red Curry with Seafood, Kaeng Choo Chee \u2013 Thai Curry Episode VIII"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

Before we start with the recipe, I would like to give you a little piece of information about Thai Kaeng. There are two types of soups in Thai cuisine. One is \u201cTom\u201d \u00a0and one is \u201cKaeng\u201d . Tom, as in \u201cTom Yum<\/a>\u201d \u00a0or \u201cTom Kha<\/a>\u201d , is a type of soup that doesn\u2019t need \u201cKrueang\u201d (\u0e40\u0e04\u0e23\u0e37\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e07), the paste made from herbs and spices, created either as a curry paste or just a simpler \u201cThai Trio\u201d, which consists of garlic, pepper and cilantro root.<\/p>\n

The character of \u201cTom\u201d (Tom=boil)\u00a0is soup-like, either using coconut milk as a base or water (or soup stock), with chunks of herbs such as lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, shallots, etc\u2026 It could be just one of them or many. You can see these recipes for\u00a0Tom Yum Goong <\/a>, Tom Kha Lobster<\/a> for a better understanding. Tom Yum<\/a>\u00a0is the soup, i.e, water, base, and Tom Kha<\/a> has the coconut milk base.<\/p>\n

There are more Tom, such as Tom Khlong \u0e15\u0e49\u0e21\u0e42\u0e04\u0e25\u0e49\u0e07, Tom Jued \u0e15\u0e49\u0e21\u0e08\u0e37\u0e14, Tom Som \u0e15\u0e49\u0e21\u0e2a\u0e49\u0e21, Tom Sab \u0e15\u0e49\u0e21\u0e41\u0e0b\u0e48\u0e1a, and I\u2019m sure there are more that I forgot. I will get around to these sometime later.<\/p>\n

Now back to the other soup, Kaeng. \u201cKaeng\u201d is also a soup with either a water (stock) or coconut milk base, but most Kaeng needs a paste to kickstart the flavor. That\u2019s why we\u2019re making the curry paste, or \u201cKrueng Kaeng = the blend of herbs and spices as a base of a soup” (\u0e40\u0e04\u0e23\u0e37\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e41\u0e01\u0e07) here.<\/p>\n

This distinction I’m making may not exactly be a rule. I am not sure, because this is what I have been told from my aunts (many of them) from whom I learned the basics of Thai cooking by observing them cook. But I’ve already seen a lot of exceptions already. Kaeng Choo Chee and Kaeng Panaeng are the first two exceptions, because both have a gravy-like curry when most Kaeng are the soup-like curry, as I explained in the previous blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Choo Chee curry is always paired with seafood, (even though I think it would be more accurate to call them swimming foods!) The seafood is cooked separately however you like\u2014poached, grilled, steamed, fried or batter-fried\u2014then the Choo Chee curry is poured on top.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never seen Choo Chee curry served with land animal meat. I guess it\u2019s because the curry paste doesn\u2019t contain any spice that Thai people like to add to cover the \u201cgame\u201d smell of land animals. A good Choo Chee curry will have a very prominent coconut smell with some red coconut oil on top.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a>

This is Choo Chee curry with scallops.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ingredients<\/strong> for 2<\/p>\n

Kaeng Choo Chee curry paste<\/a> 1\/4 cup (Note #1)<\/p>\n

Coconut cream 1 cup (Note #2)<\/p>\n

Coconut oil (or other vegetable oil if you can’t find it) 1-2 tablespoons; THIS IS OPTIONAL, in case you can’t get coconut cream. Please read Note #2 for a better understanding.<\/p>\n

Seafood–your choice; just enough for two people. I used 2 pieces of wahoo fish, about 12 oz. total.<\/p>\n

Palm sugar 1-2 tablespoons<\/p>\n

Fish sauce 2-4 tablespoons<\/p>\n

Chiffonaded Kaffir lime leaves<\/a> 1 tablespoon (about 2 -3 leaves)<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>

In this picture the chiffonaded kaffir lime is an important ingredient, but the Thai basil is only for decoration.<\/p><\/div>\n

NOTE<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) You can either use the Choo Chee curry paste made with the instruction from my earlier blog<\/a> “Advanced Red Curry Paste<\/a>”<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

or you can buy the ready-made one. If you buy the ready-made curry paste, check if it contains roasted coconut. If it doesn’t, you should add it to the paste. Instruction for this is also in my last blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>

These are the ingredients of the Choo Chee curry paste.<\/p><\/div>\n

2) Do not shake the can of coconut milk before you open it. The hard white part at the top is the coconut cream. If the coconut milk you bought has been shaken or isn’t separated, you can try putting the coconut milk in the refrigerator for an hour. You should have the coconut cream floating up on the top. If the cream doesn’t float, I recommend changing the brand of coconut milk next time. It contains either too much flour or binding agent.<\/p>\n

The reason that I use only the coconut cream is because I don’t want to spend my evening boiling down the water from the coconut milk. If you have no way to separate them, you can use the coconut milk as is, but know that your curry is either not going to “break”, giving you coconut oil, or you might have to boil it for a while longer to get the proper consistency. No big deal.<\/p>\n

Method<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Clean and prepare the seafood of your choice. I fried my wahoo fish.<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>

These are the ingredients of the Choo Chee curry paste.<\/p><\/div>\n

2) Put coconut cream in a pot or a wok, set it over medium high heat and wait until the coconut cream is bubbling and, if your coconut cream can \u201cbreak\u201d and give oil, wait until that happens.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using coconut milk that has a stabilizer such as xanthan gum, gour gum or some type of flour added, the coconut milk will never break. In that case, I suggest you add about 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil in your coconut milk.<\/p>\n

If you want to know why I am so insistent on the coconut milk breaking, please visit the “Thai Curry Paste Episode III: Making a Pot of curry<\/a>” to see why.<\/p>\n

3) Add the curry paste to the wok and lower the heat to medium.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t want to burn the roasted coconut flakes in the curry paste. Fry the curry paste until it\u2019s back to bubbling again and continue to stir for the next two minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

Add more coconut cream if the contents get too thick.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

4) Add the fish sauce and palm sugar, mix until they\u2019re well blended and taste the sauce. Adjust the taste to your preference.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This is the finished Choo Chee curry sauce. Notice the layer of red oil floating on top.<\/p><\/div>\n

5) Pour the sauce over your prepared seafood.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

6) Add the chiffonaded kaffir lime leaves and sliced red chili on top.<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

Choo Chee can be served with steamed rice, bread, or roti, and cooked vegetables. Delicious!!<\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/a><\/p>\n

The next I’ll tell you how to make Panaeng curry–don’t miss it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before we start with the recipe, I would like to give you a little piece of information about Thai Kaeng. There are two types of soups in Thai cuisine. One is \u201cTom\u201d \u00a0and one is \u201cKaeng\u201d . Tom, as in \u201cTom Yum\u201d \u00a0or \u201cTom Kha\u201d , is a type of soup that doesn\u2019t need \u201cKrueang\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55,64,11,16,17,22,59,25],"tags":[3,159,61,10,66,15,20,43,70,26],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clicking-in-the-kitchen","category-curry","category-dinner","category-gluten-free","category-lunch","category-sauce","category-seafood","category-thai","tag-asian","tag-choo-chee-curry","tag-coconut-milk","tag-cooking","tag-galangal","tag-gluten-free","tag-recipe","tag-shrimp","tag-thai-curry-paste","tag-thai-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highheelgourmet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}