Green curry paste: how hot do you want your food?
January 24, 2008
Filed under Asian Pantry
Curry powder is a familiar item in the supermarket. It is even sold in repacked pouches in most vegetable stalls of wet markets. Filipinos are not only familiar with the dish known as chicken curry; most love it. And that includes me. Chicken curry is one of the three dishes that my mother knew how to cook so you can just imagine how often my brother and I had it in our school lunchboxes.
The popularity of chicken curry in the Philippines is such that you will find it listed as a Filipino dish in many cookbooks written by local authors. And 99% of the recipes call for a tablespoonful or so of curry powder. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in more than one entry — curry is not a spice per se; it is a mixture of as many as 20 spices. I’ve been using curry powder for my curried dishes all throughout my life until I read about “curry paste” and wondered if it would yield a more flavorful dish. A few weeks ago, I discovered red curry paste and green curry paste in the supermarket. I bought one of each.
I cooked chicken curry about two weeks ago and used the red curry paste with it. The instructions at the back of the pouch called for 200 grams of chicken but since 200 grams of chicken would not feed my family of four, plus a live-in househelper, I decided to use about 700 grams of chicken. I was expecting that the spiciness of the red curry paste would be highly diluted but, my goodness, we had to eat with a steady supply of cold water to wash down every mouthful. It was HOT!
Of course, the tolerance for spiciness will vary from one person to the next. What we consider much too hot would be just right for some people. But because one pouch of red curry paste for 700 grams of chicken proved too hot for us, the next time I cooked a curried dish, I decided that 1.2 kilos of meat would be just right with the pouch of green curry paste.
Weeelll… it was still too hot. I mean, we still needed all those glasses of cold water which we continually refilled all throughout dinner. Next time, I will use only a tablespoonful of the paste instead of ALL the content of the pouch. Yes, I will buy the red and green curry pastes again. Despite setting my mouth on fire, I have to admit that they were good and a much, much better option than curry powder. And a trick I learned from the cooking instructions on the curry paste pouch: if you add sweet basil leaves to your curried dish, it will taste even better.
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i like eating my curry VERY hot. scorchy hot
hi ms connie!
this is the same curry paste we use at home. but i prefer the red curry than the green.
the first time i used this, hindi ko talaga nilagay lahat. buti nalang tinikman ko muna yung niluluto ko, half the pack palang ang nalagay ko, (for a half kilo of chicken fillet & 1cup of coconut milk) super hot na. and yes, adding fresh basil and some young eggplants make the dish simply irresistible.
The red and green curry pastes are really good. And one pouch can last for 2-3 cooking since they’re really hot.
Try adding kafir leaves too, Connie, and see the difference.
Gay
Ah curry…lately we’ve been eating a lot of spicy food. I made beef curry for New Year using red curry paste. I used kaffir leaves for that. I wonder how it would taste with kaffir and basil leaves….something to try.
I have the highest tolerance for spicy food at home so i really have to control how spicy my dishes turn out. I do that by removing the seeds from chillies or just serving some additional chillies on the side.
eumir123, you should have lunch with my hubby LOL. My younger daughter and I, well… gee, we’re the water drinkers. LOL
Wen, ah okay. So if half a pack is super hot for half a kilo of chicken, perhaps, half a pack for a kilo of chicken will be ideal for us. Thanks.
Gay, dunno where to get kaffir lime leaves. It was listed in the recipe at the back of the pack but I didn’t know where to get them. Baka may suki ka?
Peterb, where did you buy the kaffir leaves?
Hahaha… natawa ako sa iyo when you said you had to drink plenty of cold water. Ganyan din kasi ako minsan palibhasa I have been living in countries who likes hot and spicy. Kaya nga everytime I use curry paste for my chicken curry I make sure I put 1 teaspoon at a time then I check every now and then.
I haven’t tried kaffir leaves, I should next time I cook one.
I got them from Rustan’s Powerplant. I’ve tried other Rustan’s groceries but only found it there. I think it’s P50 a pack, about 5 to 7 leaves. I also have dried Kaffir leaves which i got from Spices & Flavors at Market, Market. They also have Kaffir Powder. I only use the dried leaves as a last option just in case the fresh ones aren’t available.
Spices & Flavors is really nice, lots of spices available, they even have recipe books there you could use as a reference.
Hi Connie,
I also use the red & curry paste but of different brand here in geneva. I only use about 2-3 tsps for 400 gms of meat + veggies (thai aubergine, string beans). I also use about 8 kaffir leaves and add a bit of sugar and lime/lemon juice.
I get my kaffir leaves here in vietnamese or thai stores. They can keep in the freezer for a long time.
June, sometimes I feel so full from the water that I actually end up eating very little.
Peterb, thanks! To Market!Market! then. And soon.
jygva, 2 to 3 tsps/400 grams of meat and veggie. Okay. LOL I really overdid it, didn’t I with one pack of curry paste? LOL
Hi Connie, you can have the kafir leaves if you come over to our house. I have little kafir tree.
Gay, medyo malayo yung Los Baños sa Antipolo ah. But thanks. Pag nagawi. Wala bang seeds yang kaffir tree?
I love scorching hot curry, and the curry pastes we get here (in jars, not in the pouch) are fairly hot. But I always have to use more than the recipe calls for!
I am not into curry dishes too much pag-hindi ko masyadong kilala ang nagluto, kasi iba-iba sila. I have a friend from Trinidad and Tobago who told me that they never put the curry pwder straight to the dish, but rather pre-fried it first to take out more of the flavor and for it to not just cover the dish with its spicyness. Thai curry dishes, yan, medio tolerated ko, iba kasi ang dating eh. Pinoy curries.. ewan ko, I cannot remember kelan pa ako naka-tikim non, something like… sa adobong chicken yata.. but prang mapait yata ang taste. And I don’t try to cook it myself kasi nga parang x-branded sa taste bud ko yung ingredients.. Siguro pag-punta ko ng Pinas, try ko ulit..
You’re most welcome Connie! It’s rare that i know where to find an ingredient that you don’t. hehe Do try to use fresh though. Iba talaga amoy ng fresh sa dried eh.
Is it easy to grow a kaffir tree Pwede kahit sa paso lang? I think i read somewhere that Herbana Farms offers kaffir leaves as well and plants. Not sure though, haven’t been to the weekend markets in a while.
Hi again Connie! I just read in Yummy Magazine an article about Chef’s Nook, the one beside Jipan in Pilar St., here in Mandaluyong that they have Kaffir leaves, both fresh and dried.
Lydia, that was how my father-in-law used his spices — more than what any recipe calls for. And my hubby inherited the love for hot food.
Ebba, that’s how I do it too, throw in the curry powder during the sauteeing stage. That really heightens the flavor and the aroma.
Peterb, Middle Eastern cooking isn’t exactly my forte hehehe Mandaluyong is the nearest but if I can get a potted plant before I get a chance to beg Gay for some seeds, I’d much prefer that. Thanks for all the info.
Hi Connie, ako ulit. Not sure kung may seeds. Yung nabili ko kasi ay grafted. And take note, yung graft ng kafir ay nasa dulo lang at mas marami pang magdahon yung part na hindi kafir! Kaya alagang-alaga yun.
I learned about kafir from Thai students here at LB. Most of them stay at SEARCA dorm and they have planted kafir in the backyard as well as an assortment of herbs na di natin ginagamit.
Hi Sass,
One of the few times I’ve visited your food blog. My wife happened to consult me what to do with the fresh kilo of lapulapu (3 pcs) for our lunch. I remember you have this spicy steam fish recipe but I don’t have it in my file anymore. (My home desktop crashed last time). I have to get the recipe from your food blog. May I share with you some of what I know with curry.
This is what I noticed with curry powder -
If you use a ready mixed curry powder in a dish (example- a half tbsp curry, half tbsp flour mixed with a cup of coconut milk), the resulting color is yellow once the cooking is done.
If you make your own curry powder (mixture of cumin, turmeric, black pepper, coriander, and funegreek powders), the resulting color is red once the cooking of the dish is done.
To put more emphasis on its flavor chilly powder should be added for both ready mixed and the prepared one. I still have to encounter a curry paste.
I like foods with curry which includes curry puffs. My favorite is the Singaporean style fish head curry and my wife’s chicken curry (with lots of potatoes).
Bon appetit!
The spices used in curry dissolves better in oil than in water, so best to saute the curry with oil rather than after you have added your stock. Something to do with their chemical properties, I guess.