Cooking Thai Food

Well, the first time in a long time (four months) I tried my hand at keang phet sai fak thong (Red Curry with pumpkin) and chicken satay...with our beloved jasmine rice. It was okay. Nothing to write home about (but I will write on the blog about it!!!). I brought some curry packets with me from Thailand when we moved. I realized recently that I have one of the ingredients for this dish growing in an herb planter my mother in law gave me when we came back to the US. It is Thai sweet basil or bai huaraphra! So, I ran to Publix yesterday and bought an acorn squash (which ended up tasting very similar to Thai pumpkin) and a few other ingredients I needed for the chicken satay. I don't know what happened. The curry just seemed bland. I followed my "recipe" to the letter (and believe me cooking in Thai is not the type of food to follow to the letter). But, it just didn't have that zing. I think I need to add more curry next time. I added plenty of fish sauce and sugar (two staple ingredients in Thai food, along with a sour and spicy component), so I don't think that was the problem. Would it be at all possible that the coconut milk is different here??? Anyone else ever have this problem?

In any case, the satay was a hit. The kids LOVED it. Oh, I also made a Thai egg omelette and they enjoyed eating that over rice (another staple Thai dish...at least for my kids!). In the pictures you can see bits and pieces of what I made...not all the chicken got doused in the herb rub (I ran out and was too lazy to make more!). Anyway here is a recipe for the herb rub for the chicken (I bought Thai kitchen peanut satay sauce since I could not buy the ingredients...it tasted very similar, in my opinion).

2 lbs. of chicken breasts, cut in one inch strips knead with following ingredients, addint one at a time. Marinate for at least two hours. (*I didn't add one at a time, I just combined them all together and then rubbed it onto the chicken)

3 slices of ginger (crushed)

3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 Tbsp. curry powder

1Tbsp. coriander powder (i omitted this as I couldn't find it)

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp butter

bamboo skewers

Rub chicken in herbs, thread on skewer and allow to marinate. Broil until cooked or cook over charcoal fire.

Eat with cucumber salad (yah know, the one with vinegar and all), if you like to make it more Thai add red onions instead of white ones, and add one sliced, red bird peppers.