Uncle Roger Thai Green Curry

Hi Niece and nephew!

After roasting Jamie Oliver on his Thai green curry made with mangetout and mushrooms and Nick DiGiovanni on his green curry filled with red peppers, Uncle Roger shows us his weejio on how to prepare this important dish in Thailand.

All sprinkled with a fabulous white powder.

What you think about this weejio?

Quote from bzzz

Indeed, he did some mistakes.

1. He said no stirring but, a better way to grind roasted spices is to stir them in stone mortar. They should use stone mortar and pestle for curry paste.

Roasted dried spice is crispy and easily breaks with light stirring and the friction of the stone texture + the weight of the pestle. The spice jumps less using stirring technique. Neither his ground dried spice was fine as he said.

Why did not they used stone mortar but clay one? The hint is in the name of the restaurant, Esarn Keaw. Natives of Esarn (North-East) region usually use clay mortar but, it is no curry paste in local Esarn menu. Green curry originated in the central region whose peoples have mainly used stone mortar.

2. His ingredients of curry paste included kaffir lime leaves but, the authentic formula includes the kaffir lime zest, not the leaf. Granted that the kaffir lime fruit is almost unavailable outside of Thailand.

3. This is a biological error. Galangal, in fact, belongs to the ginger family.

4. Additional friction is unnecessary if the right kind of mortar is used, stone one.

5. I laughed when I saw him poured coconut milk right after the cooking oil. I was taught to always stir fry the curry paste in cooking oil first for better smell. I then looked up authentic method and realised my method was regional. The southerner usually stir fries curry paste in cooking oil first for whatever menu with curry paste. The menu was originated in the central region and the authentic method was similar to his explanation, stir coconut milk until the oil separated before stir frying curry paste, following with chicken meat. Still, there were mistakes.

6. Packaged (boxed or canned) coconut milk can be heated up until the oil separates too but it takes longer time. I guess he lacked knowledge on how the Thai made and used coconut milk.

They are 2 kinds of coconut milk in Thai cuisine, thick one and thin one. The coconut milk is made by putting shredded coconut in thin clothe, soaking it in hot water and squeezing till it dries. The output is the thick primary coconut milk. The process is repeated on the coconut leftover to produce the thin secondary coconut milk. In traditional markets, sellers separate thick and thin coconut milk in different bags. The boxed/canned coconut milk is the combination of the thick and thin ones.

The authentic method is meant to be

- Stir fry a small amount of thick coconut milk until the oil separates.

- Stir fry curry paste.

- Stir fry chicken.

The amount of thick coconut milk here is small as you are boiling the curry paste, not stir frying it, if the water mass is too much. Also, larger quantity of coconut milk, more time is needed for the oil to separate.

Usually, only this small amount of thick coconut milk is used so the curry soup is not too oily. After the chicken is stir fried until it is almost cooked, the thin coconut milk is poured onto until your get your wanted volume of soup. More thick coconut may be used if the person prefers oilier creamier soup but not widely loved.

7. The Thai does not soak eggplant in water to make it soft. We often soak cut eggplant in brine to prevent it from getting dark, oxidation.

8. The red chili usually is added in last minute to keep it fresh looking. It is more of decorative item and flavoring.

9. Chicken stock is never been a part of Thai authentic menu. Chicken stock usually is used only in Chinese/Western influenced menu.

10. It is no "fresh" palm sugar. Palm sugar is made by evaporating palm syrup in a heated pot. The palm sugar rock is meant to be the drier version of palm sugar. However, cane sugar often is added for the syrup to quicker chunk up. The southerner usually uses only the rock version as it is easier to keep.

11. He seemed to abuse MSG.

12. His finished green curry looked too oily to my taste. It reminded me of those oily Chinese dishes during vegan festival.

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Wow such a detailed post !!!

I cannot reply to all of your post as I'm not an expert.

However, on some points Uncle Roger is just adding his comedy touch (MSG for example). Your post makes me want cooking a Thai curry but I got no pestle and mortar (and I'm lazing for pounding).

Quote from bzzz

You could see shocking face of the shop owner at the amount of MSG he poured into.

You can cook any Thai curry without pestle and mortar and being lazy for pounding. You got 2 choices,

blender & instant paste. To be honest, I usually buy instant paste too. Most Thai buys instant paste which comes in different brands. Unless you are making a big pot of curry soup, to make your own paste feels like too much of a hassle, even with blender. And, if you make your own curry paste for a small portion of curry, they may be various leftover herbs/spices which will eventually rot.

They are 2 popular curry menus from Thailand, green curry and massaman. If you are already into South Indian menu, massaman worth a trial. It was firstly made as an imitation of Persian food. Coconut milk was later added under South Indian influence.

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Do you have an example of brand for instant paste curry?

If you have a good one I will try to get it in my asian grocery store.

I think I'll try to cook massaman as I'm a fan of indian food.

Quote from Kataphract

<lmao>

You know the guy. The king of flavor.

Quote from Kataphract

--uncle roger

Put MSG on babies they will become smarter.

Quote from bzzz

RoiThai comes in the box. So, the coconut milk here will be better. The flavor of coconut milk is not as good in power form. However, as the coconut milk here is liquid, it will be spoiled quick after the box has opened. You have to use it up in within 3 days after opened.

Lobo and Rosdee come in powdered form. So, it can be stored for a long time after the sack opened. It is space efficient too. But, since the coconut milk has turned into powder, it won't taste as good. Coconut milk flavor fresh > UHT-ed>> powered.

There is Maeploy brand. The curry here is semi-instant as the coconut milk is not included. This in one way makes it easier to store. You can buy the easily-spoiled liquid coconut milk separately.

I'll check tomorrow if I have the Roi Thai curry box. There don't seem to be many chemicals involved.

I bought a green curry paste and an instant paste massaman curry. I will try it on next week.

I made a green curry with a paste bought in an Asian grocery store.

First, I cooked a little bit of packed coconut milk and waited until the oil separates from the milk.

Then, I added the paste and stir-fried it.

After that, I added some turkey breast (it was late and I couldn't find boneless chicken thighs) and stir fried it.

When the chicken was almost cooked I poured the rest of coconut milk and let it simmer.

I poured some fish sauce and palm sugar (the dried one).

In the end I added some eggplant with some herbs (sadly I didn't get Kaffir limes leaves).

When the soup was done I added one red chili (this one was very spicy).

What you think bzzz , can I get the title uncle Roses?

Quote from bzzz

You didn't pound your paste and didn't added a lot of magic white powder. Haiya. You can't.

How was your curry?

I usually added palm sugar piece early because it can take time to melt.

I used no MSG but a lot of fish sauce fuiyoh!!

Seriously I think it was fine. I thought I used a lot of fish sauce but it wasn't really salty.

For the palm sugar I used a knife to chop it into small pieces.

Quote from SooYoung

can't believe that i literally buy MSG just because of Uncle roger

Don't forget to buy fish sauce as she's the queen of flavour.

Quote from SooYoung

i already have fish sauce x)

my next buy is a mortar x)))

I pound well without any mortar.