Kaeng Phet Kai

[Jade Emperor]

Hello

I thought I would share my recipe for Kaeng Pet Kai (Thai Red Chicken Curry). I make my own paste, but you can use jar bought if you wish

KAENG PHET KAI

1 cup thick coconut cream
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp red curry paste
500 gm chicken thigh fillet, chopped into chunks
1 cup coconut milk
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn
1 Tbsp lemon grass, stripped of woody outer and finely chopped.
1/2 cup broccoli florets, smal
5-10 cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup yellow beans, dressed, chopped into 4 cm batons
1/4 cup water chestnuts
1 Tbsp palm sugar, grated
2 Tbsp fish sauce
Good handful of fresh Thai basil for garnish

METHOD

Heat coconut oil to smoking point in a large skillet and add red curry paste, stirring to cook and release fragrances.
Add chopped chicken and continue to stir, cooking chicken through. Reduce heat to simmer.
Add coconut cream and coconut milk to the mix, stirring until all curry sauce combined.
Add kaffir leaves and lemongrass, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, water chestnuts and yellow beans, palm sugar and fish sauce, stirring constantly.
Leave the curry to simmer down and thicken for approx 30 minutes.
Serve with basil leaves and steamed Jasmine rice.

 

[thymeless]

Would you care to comment on your vegetable choices? They seem more Western than Thai, at least to me.

 

[Jade Emperor]

Sure.
Broccoli is quite common in Thai curries, especially when they are adapted for vegetarians.
Yellow beans and cherry tomato are indeed more western style vegetables, but I usually write up a recipe with availability in mind also. Where I live, Asian groceries tend to be concentrated in the areas where there’s a lot of Asian residents and a lot of people are unfamiliar with the more traditional vegetable options.
You can certainly interchange the vegetable components here with bok choy, spring onions and wombok, garlic chives and sliced red chilies. This is what I use, along with a fair bit more of the red paste, because I like my Thai curry to have a real kick of heat.
My main reason behind choosing the vegetables in this recipe (for sharing here) is to make the dish accessible to people who aren’t familiar with the nuances of Thai.
By all means try it with some of the more authentic ingredients and see if you enjoy it as much as I do!

 

[taxlady]

Maybe another time you could write the recipe the way you make it and put notes for substitutions and a note about the amounts that can be varied (like the curry paste) without compromising the dish.

 

[Jade Emperor]

Maybe another time you could write the recipe the way you make it and put notes for substitutions and a note about the amounts that can be varied (like the curry paste) without compromising the dish.

Yes, after Thyme’s comment I thought exactly the same thing. What I will do from now on is to post a recipe exactly how I make it and note how things can be changed around.
Thanks for the advice and feedback

 

[dragnlaw]

True, the only two vegies you mention that are specifically asian are the two bok choy's. Most of our bok choy's are locally grown and quite popular. Maybe not so much in Australia but are here.

 

[pepperhead212]

That recipe looks much like my "basic" Thai curry recipe, with some things that I consider essential ingredients - the lime leaves (the reason I started growing these, 22 years ago), coconut milk, fish sauce, palm sugar, Thai basil, and the lemon grass (which is in my curry pastes). Other essential ingredients in the pastes are galangal and shrimp paste. For about 3 c of coconut milk, I use 1/2-3/4 c paste; this is made with larger, milder peppers. And 1-1½ lbs. of meat, poultry, or seafood, plus 3-5 lbs. of misc. vegetables. Or 8 lbs of all vegetables, though I never make a pure vegetarian Thai curry, since it is never the same without the fish sauce and shrimp paste. One vegetable I put in almost every batch of Thai curry is onion - cut into chunks, not chopped, and put in a large measuring cup, to add other vegetables on top of. I found that in most curry recipes in True Thai, and a couple at a time, and that sweet goes really well with them. And I can't think of any vegetables I ever put in a Thai curry I didn't like! I still have one 1/2 c vacuum sealed bag of pea eggplants I grew a few years, and that gave me the idea to put diced up bitter melons in Thai curry (though I never see this in books), and I put kohlrabi in them, peeled broccoli stems, as well as diced Swiss chard stems (use the leaves for something else).

Here are some Thai curry posts from before, if you haven't found them yet.

Red Curry Paste

Someone asked me to post some Thai curry paste recipes in another thread. This is a version of red. Enjoy!:wink: Thai Red Curry Paste Ingredients 3 oz dried New Mexico chilis 12 small hot chilis, such as arbol or Thai bird 1 Tbsp whole corriander seed 1-1/2 Tbsp shrimp paste (available @...

www.discusscooking.com

I had to make some Thai curry!

I knew I'd have a craving for Thai curry, after talking about it on another forum, so I got my oldest chicken and a pound of Thai beans from the freezer last night, along with my last cup of red curry paste, and thawed them in the fridge overnight. And I had all that butternut squash I had to...

www.discusscooking.com

I have no idea why all of these were made into italics! Was supposed to only be the "True Thai".

 

[dragnlaw]

Jade, have re-read your post and as good as it sounded the first time I now think it is within my capabilities... if I pay attention... LOL I'm not known for my abilities to concentrate for very long.
Have put this into my 'to do' list. Definitely with the bok choy - which ever one I have on hand - maybe they'll do better this year in my garden.

 

[Jade Emperor]

I have read your curry paste recipes, Pepper and they look delicious and quite familiar. It’s great to see that you ‘freestyle’ your veggie selections for your curries, because this is what most people do.
I too am a fan of grilling the belacan in foil over a naked flame - I really love the aroma and flavour of this. Maybe I need help since I don’t find the smell funky at all!
I also love that just about everyone has a slight variation in their curry sauces and all are pretty good.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts

 

[dragnlaw]

Jade, that's so true - you will find as much variation in every authentic recipe for as many cooks as there are in the village! LOL Be it European, Asian, Middle East - go for it! LOL

 

[Jade Emperor]

Dragn - it’s a really easy dish to do. Yes, bok choy is great in this.
Let me know how it goes-my guests and partner really love this curry whenever I make it. Hope you enjoy it too.

 

[Jade Emperor]

Jade, that's so true - you will find as much variation in every authentic recipe for as many cooks as there are in the village! LOL Be it European, Asian, Middle East - go for it! LOL

Hehe, in my journey of discovery with Asian cuisine, I have used many different resources. I pore over Thai Food by David Thompson (wonderful), South East Asian Food by Rosemary Brissenden (really encyclopaedic, a bit quaint as it is an older text written for a western audience) and Thai Street Food by Luke Nguyen.
I also have a great Vietnamese friend who is a wonderful cook and gives me great advice. Same with a lovely older lady at the market who always helps me out with my ideas.
I find myself absorbing all kinds of ideas from all sorts of people and texts and restaurants and incorporating them into my recipes even while keeping it authentic. As you say, there are as many authentic recipes as there are people in the village
Thanks for joining in here.