Random Food Fridays - Red Curry

Yum! Yum! Yum! Yum!

I love Thai curries. Usually I leave their preparation to the professionals. Sacramento is a hot bed of yummy ethnic foods. My very smart daughter, Madelyn, has helped me to understand that curry can be more a matter of shopping savvy than spice expertise. She advised me to try Mae Ploy curry paste. I've used their green, and now their red curry pastes. They are both super yummy and I don't even have to know about all the mysterious spices that are in them. I know this isn't my usual stance on food, but dude, I just made delicious curry!

Mae Ploy and my lunch portions.

Here is what the package looks like. Please note that the red curry paste contains shrimp and is not vegan. The green curry is vegan-friendly. I used about 4 tablespoons of this paste for this recipe and it came out pretty darn hot. Use 1 to 4 tablespoons according to your preference. I do recommend some Thai iced tea to cool your mouth as you eat it. I love the Thai tea served at Thai Palace, on J Street, here in Sacramento. I finally asked them what kind of tea they use. The server was kind enough to show me the package. This is the brand they use. When I shop, I look for the pink tea cup on the package. What is hilarious to me is that this tea only has two ingredients: green tea and yellow dye #6. This tastes like no green tea I've ever had! I can only conclude that yellow dye #6 is totally scrumptious. Good thing I'm not a purist!

Red Curry

1 tbsp. oil

1-4 tbsp. red curry paste

1/4 of a large onion, peeled and cut into slivers

1/4 sliced celery

1 13.5 oz can coconut milk

1 cup canned tomato chunks with some juice

1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks, drained

1 cup steamed caulifower

1 cup steamed carrots

(or 2 cups of your favorite leftover veggies)

2 tsp. sugar

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen shrimps

Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the curry paste. Stir in the curry paste and cook it in the hot oil, stirring constantly, until it becomes fragrant. This should only take 30 seconds or so. Add the onions and celery and cook for a few minutes to soften lightly. Add the remaining ingredients except the peas and shrimps. Heat through over medium heat. Add peas and shrimp and continue to heat over a medium-low flame until the peas and shrimps are hot. Serve with steamed brown basmati rice.

Makes 5 servings of 1 1/2 cups each

403 calories per serving