Friday, August 24, 2012

I'm Baaaack! (+ Masaman Curry)

Hey! Remember me?

It has been a LONG time since I've updated my little food blog here... There have been some big changes going on in our lives since I posted last spring. I went through interviews and the grad school application process, found success getting into the Medical Clinical Psychology program at University of Alabama Birmingham (Go Blazers (& Gators!)), wrapped up my postbac job, held TWO going away parties, moved two states over to good ole Bama, and started graduate coursework all in the last few months. TBird got a shiny new job, still with the same company but without the bitchy customers (bonus!), and I'm jumping headfirst into starting research again after a 1-month hiatus. Life is good! And busy, busy, busy.

Vulcan Statue in Bham. I. Love. Him. Doesn't he look awesome?





The transition to Bama hasn't been too tough for us - it's only about 8 hours from home and the people both natives and new cohort friends have been utterly pleasant and welcoming. We've been dealing with some new stuff like CST, "historic Southside living", mountains (I'm going to have the best legs this side of the Mississippi after all this uphill climbing), and missing our friends & family terribly, but altogether I couldn't have asked for this to be better. We are having an absolute adventure here and are really looking forward to what the next 5 years have in store.

But even with having such a good experience, sometimes the homesickness kicks in and I really just want some comfort food that reminds me of home. I may not be able to have the blacked chicken mac n cheese of Red Onion Grill, the Widowmaker burger at the Top, or some just-caught shrimp right out of the ocean at home, but I'm on the hunt for some decent replacements here (and there is so much good food to be tasted). One of our favorites meals for date night back home had been Masaman curry from Bahn Thai, but besides one decent little restaurant, there is NO Thai food here! So we went on the search for a good Asian market in the Bham area where we could stock up and make our own Thai curry. And after a couple of duds, we found just the thing - a small Asian grocery on the side of a restaurant (think La Tienda setup, Gville people). They stock all different kinds of Asian cuisine, some fresh ingredients, some boxed, and a LOT of spice mixes. I was completely thrilled to find this:

Masaman Curry Paste, Maesri Brand
  
Curry paste. The exact kind from the Asian Food Mart in Gville! There's all different kinds of curry made by Maesri (and I may have bought a few new ones to review later!), but Masaman is where it's at. Not too spicy, but definitely has a great red pepper kick that makes it really warm and enjoyable. We raced right home and made it for lunch.

Here's how to make the easiest, tastiest Thai in the South:
Ingredients:
4 oz can Maesri Masaman curry paste (there's about 15 ingredients in this, from the typical: garlic, shallots, sugar to the slightly exotic: Kaffir lime, galangal, tamarind juice)
1 can light coconut milk (keep the can! you'll need it to add in water later) 
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, diced
2+ trimmed, sliced chicken breasts
Onions (pre-sauteed, if you like them soft)
Salted peanuts

Preparation:
- Toss the entire can of curry paste into a large skillet with the diced sweet potatoes and the can of light coconut milk and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring all the paste into the milk to make one sauce. You could also add the sweet potatoes later on, but adding them now makes sure they are really soft.
- After the spices are all melded in, add your sliced chicken breasts and about 3/4 coconut-milk-can-ful of water, turn down the heat, and let it all simmer together until the chicken is cooked through. This usually takes around 15 minutes or so, depending on how thinly you've sliced the meat. While you're waiting, pop open some delicious sriracha peas! They're like Thai pringles.


- Once the chicken is cooked, this is ready to serve. There's a couple options...
- I like mine soupy, with lots of sauce over about a half cup of brown rice. I'll also add sauteed onions and peanuts to top it off - It's salty, spicy goodness. Thomas eats his without the peanuts and with a greater rice:sauce ratio, but it's essentially the same - just up to your preference. For once, this is a recipe that we don't change up a bit - we just eat it as it should be. Also, if you're vegetarian, this tastes aaaalmost as good if you drop the chicken and add roasted chickpeas and broccoli instead :)

Reheatability on this meal is also great. You can just pop it in the microwave and it tastes exactly the same - maybe even a bit better. Obviously, don't add the peanuts til after. Beware of putting the rice and sauce together overnight if you like yours soupy, because the rice will soak up as much of the sauce as possible and can get a little mushy.

This is an A+ product for Thai curry lovers and it brought me right back to the Bahn Thai. So happy to have found this little slice of home right here in Bham!

2 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness this looks absolutely amazing!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, it is! And so easy. The Asian food store is on Valley Ave and they have all kinds of delicious things to try.

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