Thai Beef Red Curry

Did I mention lately, how much I love SE Asian flavours, and how travelling SE Asia was probably the best travel adventures thus far. Well as I mentioned from my post on Thai Chicken Green Curry, I was fortunate enough to attend a cookery class in Thailand a few years ago. We were taught how to make the curry paste from scratch. Lots of pounding shallots and coriander and spices and chillies. She even gave us an adapted recipe for the paste to make red curry paste. That is for another time however. This recipe is sort of a cheats curry. Although in saying that, I don’t know too many people who make their curry paste from scratch. By using a good quality shop bought brand of red curry paste, the flavours are not compromised. The rice I’m making is extremely aromatic and worth the care and attention. The use of cardamom pods in the boiling of the rice, really evokes scents from SE Asia. So here it is,  my quick Thai Beef Red Curry with Cardamom Infused Basmati Rice.

Serves 2 

Ingredients

• 2 medium size sirloin steaks, cut into thin strips
• 3 shallots, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 8-10 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced very thinly
• 1 tbsp of Bart’s Red Curry Paste
• ½ can of coconut milk
• 2 tbsp of Thai fish sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp of brown sugar
• 5 cardamom pods
• 120g of basmati rice
• Chopped coriander 

  

Method

1. In a pan, add some rapeseed oil, and fry the shallots, beef, and garlic for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the mushrooms and the carrots for another couple of minutes, continuously stir frying.
3. Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. Add the curry paste to the pan to cook the spices through, then add the coconut milk.
5. Once combined well, return the beef and vegetables to the with the red milk and allow to simmer for 5-6 minutes.
6. Add the juice of a lime, the fish sauce and the sugar.
7. If the sauce is too watery, add some cornstarch, combined with a little water to thicken.
8. If the sauce is too thin, simply add more coconut milk.
9. This dish can be cooked in advance if required and reheated in the pan when needed.
10.  To cook the rice, wash the rice well in cold water using a sieve. Once the water runs clear, soak it in cold water for 10 minutes, before draining and adding new water.
11. Add the required volume of water and the cardamom pods and cook the rice with a lid on the pan for 10-12 minutes
12. Add the chopped coriander to the curry and to the drained rice and stir to combine.
13.  For decoration,...or as they say in Thailand..."for more beautiful"..., if you want your rice to stand on your plate in a particular shape, i.e. a dome, simply, wet the sides of a cup with water, fill the cup with you rice, pressing down.
14. Then turn over onto a plate, tapping the sides of the cup and gently lift away from the rice.
15.  Looks well impressive and its dead simple. Scatter with remaining coriander