Thai Red Curry with Shrimp -- comfort food

Thai food is comfort food for us. Well at least for the two adults and the teen. Little Sis does not like Thai food!

Don't ask me how this is possible but the more I see my kids, the more I want to get their DNA checked. I don't know where they carry these traits from. So anyway for a long time all that Little Sis would eat at our favorite Thai place was their jasmine rice with a little bowl of ketchup+hot sauce on the side. I was okay with it as long as there was no impediment to my pad thai. As she grew older and became an active member in voting "Where do we go out for dinner on Saturdays?", she also became a vociferous opponent of our favorite Thai place. Imagine the horror. Instead of a nice bowl of Tom Yum soup we were being subjected to mac n cheese, how so ever gourmet it may be.

Only recently she has taken an infinitesimal amount of liking for Tom Yum soup which she eats with a side of jasmine rice. As long as she does not vote out our Thai place, I really don't care.

Now, since making a Thai Red curry is something which has a huge ROI, with little work to do and a huge return on flavor, I make a Thai red curry at home often. Little Sis does not eat it but Big Sis slurps it up. It really is a pretty simple dish to make if you have these two ingredients. Thai Red Curry Paste and a Can of coconut milk. I like the Maesri brand of red curry paste and have not tried other kinds.

To make a Chicken Thai Red Curry follow this recipe

Today we will make Shrimp Thai red Curry

Shrimp Thai Red Curry

Start off with 1 lb of fresh or frozen raw shrimp. If you are buying fresh shrimp, buy the ones without the head. Clean the shrimp which means take out the black thread like thingy on the back of the shrimp and rinse in running water. Toss the shrimp in salt and keep aside

Fry 1 small onion, chopped in pieces, cool and make a paste

Heat canola or vegetable oil in a wide pan

Saute the shrimp lightly until they change their raw coloring. Take out and keep aside

To the same oil add 2 cloves of garlic minced. If you have Thai Basil leaves, add about 3-4 of them too.

Once you get a beautiful flavor, add the Onion paste and fry for a minute

Add 1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper chopped in medium sized strips. Saute for 2 minutes

When the Pepper turns soft add 2-3 tbsp of the Red Curry Paste. Saute and cook with sprinkle of water for the next 2-3 minutes

If you have bamboo shoots,add 1/2 a can of bamboo shoots. Saute

Add 1 can of Coconut Milk + 1/2 Cup of water. Mix well and adjust for salt. Let the gravy come to a simmer. I usually let it simmer at low-medium heat for 6-8 minutes as I see it helps the flavors to blend well.

Add 1 tsp sugar and cook to desired consistency. By this time the gravy will have a beautiful color.

Now add the cooked shrimp and let the gravy simmer for 2 more minutes.

At the very end add the Lime Zest or Kafir Lime Leaves. Serve with rice.



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Kashundi Egg Salad -- Indian style

First to dispel any myths, no one from my family back home will call this a Bengali egg salad. They will call this "dim seddho makha" -- boiled eggs mashed up and leave it at that. This is something that we ate almost routinely for breakfast, along with mashed potatoes, rice and a dollop of ghee.

"You ate all that in the morning before going to school?", my daughters often ask, their voice incredulous, their eyes weary looking at their mother who was ok eating all of rice, potatoes, eggs and ghee in the wee hours of the morning!

I look back with surprise too. How on earth did I manage to scarf down all of that before rushing off to the school bus stop at 8 in the morning! But then I loved eggs. I still do. The husband-man shares a similar love of eggs. If we ever have to share a boiled egg between us, it is a moment of heightened tension, cutting the egg with finite precision, so that no one gets away with a bigger share of the delicious egg yolk. The girls, unfortunately do not share our love for eggs. I would have never ever imagined that my own progeny would refuse to eat an cooked egg yolk, but if I look at the positive side, it only leaves more for me.

I am not a big fan of the egg salad that is very popular in the western world. However I cannot deny that it is an extremely easy dish to make for picnics or even parties when served right. You can serve them as a crostini on a piece of french baguette or on crackers and bam you have a quick and easy appetizer ready!

Sanhita's Nonta Bhapa Pithe | steamed rice flour dumplings

Nonta Bhapa Pithe  | Jhaal Pithe | Steamed Savory rice flour Dumplings

Pithe is reminiscent of the times when paddy was harvested in the months of December-January and the new crop was celebrated by making dishes that used rice, date palm jaggery(khejur gur also collected in the winter months) and coconut. There are a variety of pithe and puli made from these ingredients - patishapta, doodh puli, gokul pithe, bhapa pithe, chitoi pithe etc. While most of these have a sweet coconut-jaggery stuffing, the Nonta Bhapa Pithe is a steamed rice flour dumpling which has a nonta aka savory stuffing. It is also called jhaal aka spicy pithe because of the stuffing.

When the world around us is in a tumultuous state, among the few things that bring sanity, is food that has ties with our roots. Those ties might be frayed and not often remembered but it is there, a gentle reminder of who we are and how our journey has been. How in this global world, we have all immigrated, far from our roots, whether it is within the country or outside. There is comfort in knowing recipes that are old and yet have stood the test of time and movement. Knowing that this was the food prepared and consumed by my kin, in a different era, different world, in times of different beliefs, gives us strength in its perpetual persona.

Pithe,is reminiscent of the times when paddy was harvested in the months of December-January and the new crop was celebrated by making dishes that used rice, date palm jaggery(khejur gur also collected in the winter months) and coconut. Poush Parbon or Nabanno was a celebration of the new crop of rice, which was the mainstay for the then agrarian society. We have moved many years forward from those times where rice is now GMO and harvested multiple times and grated coconut can be found in the frozen aisles of grocery stores. Yet, we still take the effort to celebrate poush-parbon, in our home to honor those simpler times when we revered soil and its bounty, instead of taking it for granted like we do now.

Usually during Poush Sankranti, I hover between my fail safe recipes of paati-sapta and gokul pithe. I have never tried to make pithe with rice flour which is quintessential part of poush parbon for Bengalis. My Ma makes puli pithe which are rice flour dumplings shaped like a small rugby ball and stuffed with nice things like kheer or coconut. These "pulis" are then steamed and dunked in a milk based paayesh. I have never been fond of them or tried to make them. There was a nonta pithe or bhaja pithe that my Ma used to make with sweet pea stuffing. Those I loved butI have never worked with rice flour so didn't try making those either.

That doesn't mean, I miss those though. I know an amazing bunch of folks who are all very talented when it comes to cooking. One of our friends Sanhita, is an expert when it comes to whipping up traditional Bengali delicacies. Every year during Sankranti, she takes it upon herself to make all kinds of pithes and pulis, and then invites all of us over to her home for a pithe party. Didn't I say, I had amazing friends?