The quest for authenticity in food is understandable, but often misguided. When we're in the mood for Southeast Asian flavors, that's what we cook — strictly "authentic" or no. My guess is that people in all cultures cook what they have around in a particular style and the attempt to codify them to publish cookbooks is what accounts for iconic dishes comprised of the same standard ingredients.
Well, what we had a around was beautiful sustainable gulf shrimp (which was mostly for the curry, but we saved out a few and grilled them), mixed greens, carrots, radishes, thin rice noodles, and rice paper. As it is winter here in the midwest, there are always clamshell herbs — basil and mint — plus fresh cilantro. Dipping sauce should be a simple and bright affair. Fish sauce, lime juice, cider vinegar, a splash of water, and sugar does nicely (maybe also chili and spring onions). Why sweet gloppy peanut butter sauce often gets to play here is beyond me.
We have tried supermarket red curry paste and it just doesn't seem to cut it. For one thing, I can rarely taste it and end up adding the whole jar. For another, it's flat and real curry is floral and aromatic. Since we don't eat these flavors every day and since it was Saturday night, we took the time to make it ourselves. Really, once you've got the paste made, you're home. We toasted coriander seed, cumin seed, star anise, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass in a dry pan. To that we added cilantro stems, lime zest and juice, and shrimp paste to buzz up in the food pro. Oh yeah, and tons of dried red chilis slightly reconstituted in warm water.
It was a little fibrous coming out of the food processor so there was some furious chef knife rocking on the cutting board to get it to the right pastiness. We started with finely diced red onion sauteing in coconut oil, followed by the curry paste to mingle in the fat. Then in went (still frozen) chunks of pumpkin from our garden along with a can of coconut milk. We'd made a stock from the shells of our gulf shrimp, which also got poured in. Stick blenders do a great job taking care of the chunks and then it's simply a matter of throwing in your shrimp, adjusting seasoning, and lavishly garnishing.
Seems like people keep repeating that spice is for summer to make you sweat and cool down. I've question how much sense that makes because I especially love this level of intense heat when you're lane is covered in snow. You can't help but feel a sort of smugness with all of this heat, aroma, and exoticness in February.
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