This all started with a post by John Spottiswood, a talented and kind food blogger at CookEatShare . I received one of his latest posts, Fish With Thai Green Curry, and it caught my attention. I love Thai food...gee, what a suprise. His recipe sounded great, as do all his recipes, and I promised myself that this would be on my plate real soon. It took only 2 days. It was Friday. I was tired after a long work week. I was hot. New York temps. hit 101 and the humidity just as high. I knew my DH would have his usual Friday night homemade pizza, and...me? It's my evening to cook something special, different, unique....that "gotta try this recipe". And John's recipe was just what the doctor ordered. Except, I wasn't making another trip to the supermarket for ingredients like green curry paste. I pride myself on my eclectic and fully-stocked pantry. I had red curry paste, but not green. Was I too lazy to make a supermarket run? No...I was tired, hot AND a quick stop to ShopRite wouldn't cost me $3.29 for the curry paste, but easily $40 because I have an addiction to grocery shopping.
This is what's printed on the Royal Thai Cooking Sauce pouch...an intense, perfectly spiced sauce scented with mild ginger, aromatic lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, enriched with coconut milk. The spices include: coriander seeds, cumin, turmeric & cardamon. Other ingredients are: garlic, shallot, fresh green chilli & fish sauce. This was pretty darn close to John's recipe. The photo of the sauce in the skillet is after I added heavy cream and extra curry. It was a lovely shade of mint green before the cream went in, hence the description "green curry". It had a nice bit of heat, but not overly spicy.
My choice of fish was tilapia, two good size fillets. It's "poached" in the curry cream sauce and retains it's delicate flavor. Instead of Jasmine rice, my all time favorite, I decided on Rice Sticks. It has a wonderful, silky mouth-feel and absorbed the rich sauce quite nicely. The cooking method is simple. Open the pouch and gently simmer for a few minutes. Add whatever fish, shrimp or even chicken to the sauce and poach until cooked through. Have you ever known me to stop at that? I wanted a bit more curry taste, so I added a teaspoon of curry powder. Sweeter, so in went honey. Creamier, heavy cream, of course. Crunch came from cashews and texture from shredded, unsweetened coconut and why not a palm-full of golden raisins. Now, these are only optional ingredients. Leave a few out....fine. Leave them all out....just as fine or add a few of your own.
This supper was done in no time. It was savory, sweet and refreshing. I loved it! I was completely satisfied and happy to have had this culinary experience. I can't thank John enough for his source of inspiration. I may never visit Thailand, but I can enjoy the taste of Thai right in my own humble kitchen.
2 tilapia fillets (approx. 1lb)
Royal Thai Green Curry Sauce
(7oz. pouch)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon honey
dash of salt
1/2 bag of Rice Sticks
a few fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
cashews
golden raisins
(coconut, cashews, raisins are optional)
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil to cook rice sticks. When water boils, add rice sticks and boil for 3 minutes. Drain well. While water is boiling, prepare sauce & fish.
In a deep pan, gently simmer the Thai Curry Sauce for 1 minute. Add heavy cream. Stir and simmer 3 minutes. Add curry powder, honey & salt. Blend. If using coconut, raisins and cashews add to pan. Stir. Place tilapia into sauce and poach for 5 minutes. Carefully flip tilapia over and poach for 3-5 minutes depending on thickness of fish. Add parsley. Occasionally, spoon sauce over top of tilapia. When fish is white and firm it's done.
Place cooked rice sticks on a plate and arrange a fillet of tilapia on top spooning additional sauce over fish and rice sticks. Serves 2
Nanette
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