I know, I know, I already posted a beef panang curry recipe (here). I wouldn't have posted this meal except that I tried something a little bit novel, at least for me, and it turned out spectacularly.
Here's how it went down: I took a pack of beef stew meat out of my freezer on Sunday so that I could make chili on Monday. Monday, I got home from work and headed directly to the store to get the ingredients I needed for the chili. I was planning on making my regular chili recipe, a recipe I basically know by heart. I got home from the store and realized I forgot two key ingredients: onion and beer.
Loyal readers, you know I have a busy life. When I get home from work, I am tired. Going to the store once is an ordeal, and twice is impossible. I was left with two options: make something different with the stew meat or make chili another night, but I have plans for Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and am likely leaving for Chicago on Friday evening. I don't want to make chili on Wednesday if that's the only night I'm home to eat it. So I had to figure out something else to make.
Whenever I don't know what to make with a certain ingredient I google "[whatever ingredient] martha stewart recipe" and on the rare chance I don't quickly find something that looks good, I will google "[whatever ingredient] recipe". Martha failed me this time, but one of the first recipes I found with "beef stew meat recipe" was for beef panang. Beef panang with stew meat?!? you say? I KNOW. But check this out:
~1 pound beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
~2 Tbsp panang curry paste
1 can coconut milk
~1 Tbsp fish sauce
~1 Tbsp shaved palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 green bell pepper, cut into chunks
Some basil leaves
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the beef, reduce heat so that the water is simmering, and cook the beef for about an hour and a half, until the meat is tender. Drain the meat*, and put aside.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in whatever you're going to make the curry in. I used the gorgeous All-Clad saute pan my parents got me for my birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad!
3. Add the curry paste, and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, then add the coconut milk and stir to combine.
4. Add the meat and bell pepper. Add the fish sauce and palm sugar. I don't measure either of these ingredients, so the quantities listed above might not be correct. I'd say start with less, and add to your taste.
5. Simmer until the bell peppers are at your desired tenderness. Add the basil leaves.
6. Serve over rice.
* The broth that is left after boiling the meat is delicious. I was effing starving while cooking this meal, so on a whim I spooned some of my already cooked rice into a bowl and poured the broth over it for a snack while the curry finished cooking. It was a fantastic snack. I saved the rest of the broth so I can pull that move again.
So, ya, boiling the meat first makes it super tender, and it soaks up all the delicious curry flavor. Very delicious.
Bon appetit.
It's been a long time since I have seen your smiling faces, loyal readers. It's been a rough spring in terms of getting regular free time, so though I have been cooking here and there, I just haven't had time to tell you about it. I think I will be in town, at least during the week, for most of the summer, so I am back. Hopefully.
Remember last summer when I took the Thai street food class at the Portland Culinary Workshop (check out the green papaya salad)? Well, here are a couple more recipes from that class. I made this meal sometime in April, I think.
Grilled Pork Skewers (Muu Bing)
10 oz pork loin, butt, neck, etc (I used a shoulder steak)
1/4 bunch cilantro
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp shaved palm sugar
Dash of soy sauce
Juice from one lime
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
About 1/4 cup coconut cream to brush onto skewers while grilling
1. Make a marinade: using a mortar and pestle, pound the sugar, salt, pepper, and cilantro to form a paste.
2. Combine with soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, and oil. Stir together well.
3. Slice the pork into very thin and combine with marinade. Let marinate for 3 hours.
4. Skewer the pork on soaked bamboo skewers.
5. Turning often, grill on a charcoal or gas grill, brushing with coconut cream. This should take about 10 minutes on a medium hot grill.
6. Enjoy!
Sticky Rice with Mango (Kao Niaw)
1 1/2 cups sweet rice
3 cups coconut milk
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
2 fresh mangos
1/2 cup coconut cream
2 pandan leaves, tied in a knot (I almost always omit this because it's not something readily available in the supermarket)
2 tsp vegetable oil
1. In a medium sauce pan, heat oil and gently toast the rice.
2. Add the coconut milk, water, pandan leaves, sugar, and salt, and stir well. Let simmer for about 20 - 25 minutes until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is cooked through.
3. Remove the pandan leaves, taste the rice for level of sweetness.
4. Stir in the coconut cream. Serve with sliced mangos.
Bon appetit!
The green papaya salad I made yesterday gave me a hankering for more Thai food. When I went to Fubonn to purchase the ingredients for the salad, I also stocked up on things like good curry paste and coconut milk. Since I have a ton of beef, as you know, and panang curry goes so well with beef, that is what I settled on for dinner.
I am tired, it has been a long week, and I need to pack for my upcoming trip to New Jersey, so let's get to business.
About 10 oz beef filet or tenderloin, thinly sliced
About 1/2 lb green beans, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
16 oz coconut milk, reserving 2 Tbsp for garnish
4 Tbsp panang curry paste (Mai Ploy brand is my favorite)
2 Tbsp palm sugar, grated
2 - 3 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup fresh sweet basil leaves
1 red chili, sliced
4 Tbsp coarsely ground peanuts
1. Put half of the coconut milk into a wok (Ideally a wok, though I don't own a wok, so I made the curry in pan. How un-Asian of me.) and fry for 3-5 minutes, stirring continuously, until the coconut oil begins to separate out.
2. Add the panang curry paste and fry for 1-2 minutes. Once the paste is cooked add the meat and cook until the outside of the meat is cooked.
3. Add the vegetables and rest of the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Simmer and add the palm sugar along the side of the wok until it melts and then and add the fish sauce. Stir to combine and then add half the basil leaves. Cook until the veggies are at your desired doneness.
4. Turn off the heat and serve garnished with the red chillies, remaining basil leaves and remaining coconut milk.
Panang curry is traditionally meat only, but I was at the farmers market and couldn't resist getting some fresh veggies.
We Americans don't care about bastardizing other cultures' food anyway, so add whatever vegetables you want. When I used to make curry on a regular basis, I would throw in whatever I had. It's a good way to get rid of veggies that are on the verge of going bad.
Also, I used beef round steak for the dish, sliced very thin. It is not ideal to use a tough cut like round, but sliced thinly, it works and tastes just fine. Tenderloin is expensive, and, in my opinion, it doesn't make sense to use it for curry.
Bon appetit.
It's a little weird that I am about to talk about cooking classes two days in a row. I have only taken four cooking classes in my whole life, and it just happens that two of them were in the last week. So here goes.
I heard about the Portland Culinary Workshop last winter and knew immediately I wanted to take a class. I mean, they have a turducken class. Any place that teaches turducken is alright in my book. I have been trying to fit a class into my schedule for months, and a couple of weeks ago when I saw that there was a Thai street food class on a night that I could attend, I signed up.
For those of you who read my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I do not specialize in Asian cuisines. The extent of my Asian cooking skills is as follows: peanut sauce, putting Sriracha on things, and curries made from store-bought curry paste. Oh, and my little sister taught me how to make fried rice recently. And I used to make Japanese food with some regularity, but haven't in years. It's strange that I can't/don't cook any Thai, Vietnamese, or Japanese food. Those cultures make some of my favorite foods. Perhaps it has to do with the plethora of excellent Thai, Vietnamese, and Japanese restaurants in Portland, but I have decided I am going to change things. The Thai street food class was my first step in doing so.
The menu of items we made, with their Thai names, is as follows:
- Green papaya salad (Som Tom)
- Chive cakes (Kanom Gui Chai)
- Crunchy prawn cakes (Gung Foi Tort)
- Grilled pork skewers (Muu Bing)
- Sticky rice with mango (Kao Niaw)
One of the best parts of the class? I can and will make everything on that list at home. And I have started with the green papaya salad.
Green papaya salad is on my top 5 list of favorite Thai dishes, but I have always been too intimidated by it to try to make it myself. Why spend hours julienning green papaya when I can have it ready for me to pick up in 10 minutes from Pad Thai Kitchen? Loyal readers, check out this gadget:
The only thing the in English on the package of the instrument, which I picked up at Fubonn, was its name: Miracle. And miracle is it. This puppy can be used to quickly and easily julienne green papaya, or anything else that needs julienning. Seriously, it is as easy to use as a vegetable peeler. It can also be used as a corer and a slicer. Brilliant.
Now that I have the Miracle, I don't know why I would ever get green papaya salad for takeout. Okay, yes I do. Two reasons: laziness and sticky rice. Unfortunately, sticky rice is not quick or easy to make. And as much as I love cooking, sometimes I do not want to bust out a mortar and pestle in order to eat dinner.
I have ranted enough, and I think it's time to tell you how to make it.
1. Shred/julienne one green papaya into a large bowl.
If you can't find the tool I showed above, you can use the big grates on a cheese grater, julienne it by hand, or I hear some food processors and other gadgets can julienne. Or if your initials are SD, SB, or are a family member, I can run to Fubonn and get you the Miracle. If your initials are BK, go to Fubonn your own damn self and get one; you'll need to go to get a green papaya anyway. Actually, SB and family, you have more asian grocery stores near you than you could hope for, so you should be able to find one yourself. SD, I'll get you one if you want one. Can you get a green papaya in the mid-west? Maybe you'll never need the Miracle gadget. My goodness, I need to get back to the recipe.
Green papaya salad usually has tomatoes, carrots, green mango, green beans and/or whatever other vegetable you want. I added halved heirloom cherry tomatoes and a formerly green mango that had ripened to a regular ripe mango and wouldn't really shred so I only added some of it to mine and ate the rest by itself.
2. Grind about 3 large cloves garlic and 3 Thai chilies into a paste using a mortar and pestle. I only cut off the stem of the chilies and ground them seeds and all, and I actually used 5 chilies. I like my food spicy, obviously, so adjust to your taste.
3. Grate about 2 Tbsp palm sugar, add to the paste in the mortar, and grind to combine. I added more like 3 or 4 Tbsp because I also like my green papaya salad sweet. You may be noticing that this recipe can be altered to suit what you like, so alter away.
3. Add the juice of one lime and about 2 Tbsp fish sauce to the mortar, and grind/stir to combine.
4. Pour the dressing over the shredded green papaya and other vegetables and toss. Add about 2 Tbsp coarsely chopped peanuts. Toss again to combine.
5. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for a while. I don't know how long is necessary. Mine was in there for about a half hour because I made the dressing and shredded the papaya and mango then ran to the store to get peanuts and tomatoes. You could probably eat it right away and it would still be delicious.
6. Serve, ideally with sticky rice to dip into the dressing. As I mentioned earlier, sticky rice is not exactly easy to make. It involves soaking rice for hours and steaming it in a special steamer. I'll do it someday, but tonight, I served with jasmine rice. Also, the salad is usually served on top of cabbage leaves. I forgot about this until I had already left the store, but I really wish I could have done it up right. Oh well.
Make this recipe, and you will be feeling like you no longer need to get green papaya salad from anywhere except your own kitchen.
I have sort of understatement babbled on in this post, but I have one more thing to talk about. The Missoni for Target collection that launched yesterday. I arrived at Target at 7.50 am yesterday morning in order to be there before the doors opened at 8. Shockingly, many other Portlanders had done the same thing. This was the first designer for Target collection that I have truly had to fight with other people for the things I wanted. Of course I went for the clothes first, and once I had snagged what I wanted there, wandered over to the housewares. I grabbed a couple platters thinking I would likely put them back, but after getting approval from Santina, I bought one. Okay, I bought two. But they're so pretty! And they will be the best thing to happen to this blog since the seahorse plates my older sister got me for Christmas, so I think they were a good buy. And one is featured in this post, if you hadn't put two and two together yet.
Bon appetit
